Bhajan Lal faces uphill battle in Hisar

Haryana Janhit Congress contender Bhajan Lal invokes years of association with locals, Congress candidate Jai Prakash displays development plank while Indian National Lok Dal nominee Sampat Singh woos the youth, but he who can strike a balance most prudently among these three will have the final say in Hisar.
    
The build-up to the polls on May 7 witnesses 78-year-old Lal wooing his traditional support bases in his hometown of
Adampur, which has about 1.24 lakh voters, thinking that they will help him win the race to the Lok Sabha because of his long association with them."I am an old name in politics. My people know me and will surely vote for me," he said.
    
Sitting MP and Congress candidate Jai Prakash is banking on the development work done by him in the constituency. "We have done a lot of things for people. I have helped promote industries to bring employment for hundreds of youths apart from effectively implementing the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme in rural areas. I have the support of voters from both the urban and rural areas," he claims.
    
On the other hand, Sampat Singh, a former lecturer at a local college who is contesting as an INLD-BJP

alliance candidate, bases his claims to victory on the combination of the youth and farming community.     

"Both youngsters and farmers have seen me working as a minister and a students' leader in the past. I have represented them in assembly. They will surely cast their votes in my favour," he said.
    
Sixty-year-old Singh, who is eyeing Lok Sabha seat for first time, is a native of Sirsa district and has handled many
portfolios in the state government, including that of the finance minister.
    
Though the Bahujan Samaj Party so far doesn't have much influence in the area, it has fielded its candidate Ram Dayal who is busy exploring caste equations to pull a surprise. "There are more than five lakh voters under the Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes category who have been suppressed by other party candidates. I feel they will vote the BSP for the uplift of the masses and for development," Dayal said.
    
There are about 12 lakh voters in the Hisar constituency. Polling across all ten constituencies in Haryana is scheduled
to be held on May 7.