Faridabad Lok Sabha constituency, considered a prestigious seat in Haryana has Faridabad town, the leading industrial township of the state.

BJP’s Krishan Pal Gurjar had won this parliamentary seat in 2014 general polls with a huge margin of more than 4.66 lakh votes, the highest for any Lok Sabha seat in Haryana.

It was a strong undercurrent against the Congress and a Modi wave that helped Krishan Pal Gurjar, the Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment to score one of the biggest victory margins in the state.

Faridabad constituency had come into existence in 1977 and has mostly been with the Congress party, which managed to secure the seat six times out of the 11 elections held here so far. The BJP has won four times here.

As far as caste equation is concerned, the constituency has around 3 lakh Jat voters followed by over 2.5 lakh Gujjars, over 1.5 Brahmins and over 2 lakh Scheduled caste voters. The constituency also has more than one lakh Muslim voters.

The slum and migrant voters, also form a sizeable percentage in Faridabad seat.

In the multi-cornered electoral battle in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, BJP’s Krishan Pal Gurjar was polled a whopping 6.52 lakh votes (57.70) while his nearest rival former MP Avtar Singh Bhadana, who had contested on a Congress’ ticket had bagged more than 1.85 lakh votes (16.42). Indian National  Lok Dal’s candidate eminent lawyer RK Anand had finished third with over 1.32 lakh votes (11.71) while Aam Aadmi Party’s Purshottam Dagar and Bahujan Samaj Party’s Pt Rajendra Sharma were polled 5.96 percent and 5.84 percent votes respectively.

According to the political analysts, while the history favored the Congress  in the parliamentary constituency, former Haryana BJP chief Krishan Pal Gurjar, while riding high on the Modi wave and strong anti-incumbency against the Congress, had managed to wrest the seat in 2014 polls.

A huge margin of victory registered by Gurjar was also the sign of resentment among the voters against the corruption, the main election issue in 2014 polls, the political observers feel.

BJP’s Gurjar had led in all nine assembly segments including Hathin, Hodal (SC), Palwal, Prithla, Faridabad NIT, Badkhal, Ballabgarh, Faridabad and Tigaon to register a comfortable victory from Faridabad Lok Sabha seat.

The Faridabad constituency has around 19.46 lakh voters, as per the data of Election Commission.

In the past, some high-profile leaders like former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal and Avtar Singh Bhadana have represented the seat.

BJP’s Ram Chander Bainda was consecutively returned thrice to Parliament from this seat in the 1996, 1998 and 1999 elections. Avtar Singh Bhadana represented the seat in 1991, 2004 and 2009. 

The four-time former MP Bhadana is considered an influential Gujjar leader who has a stronghold in Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. He had in 1999 also won from Meerut Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh.

Bhadana had joined the BJP in 2015 and was elected an MLA from Meerapur assembly constituency, which is a part of Muzaffarnagar district and one of the five assembly constituencies in the Bijnor LokSabha seat of Uttar Pradesh.

With aspirations to contest from Faridabad Lok Sabha seat in 2019 polls, Bhadana had on Thursday joined the Congress again in the presence of the newly elected general secretary of UP east Priyanka Vadra Gandhi in Lucknow

He had quit the Congress in 2014 accusing the party high command of not taking action against those responsible for the humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. Bhadana, a known party-hopper had also been with the Indian National Lok Dal, Haryana’s main opposition party before joining the BJP in the year 2015.

With his return to the Congress, Bhadana is now seen as a frontrunner for party’s ticket from Faridabad Lok Sabha seat in the ensuing polls.

Even when he was in the BJP, the four-time former MP had been openly staking his claim to the Faridabad seat for the 2019 elections.

Both Krishan Pal Gurjar and Bhadana have reportedly also indirectly criticized each other on various issues.

In the ruling BJP, the sitting MP Krishan Pal Gurjar remains the strong nominee for the party’s ticket for ensuing Lok Sabha polls.  A party veteran, he had also contested the Haryana Vidhan Sabha election in 1996 and was assigned the post of the state party president in 2009.

In 2014 general election, the party had fielded him much against the expectation of many, who wanted former three-time MP Ram Chander Bainda to be given the party ticket.

Gurjar rivalry with Haryana Cabinet Minister and Faridabad MLA Vipul Goel may also stir up a surprise during ticket distribution from the Lok Sabha constituency seat.

While rivalry between two party leaders in one district is common in Haryana but Gurjar and Vipul Goel were involved in a heated argument on a public platform last year and the video of the incident had went viral causing embarrassment to the ruling BJP.

Gurjar and Goel had exchanged heated words during Dussehra celebration in Faridabad’s NIT ground last year and accused each other of scoring political mileage.