Haryana Election Result: Eight members of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal’s family had contested the Haryana Assembly elections from different constituencies, but only two of them emerged victorious – INLD’s Arjun Chautala and Aditya Devi Lal.
32-year-old Arjun Chautala, younger son of senior Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader Abhay Singh Chautala, defeated Congress’s Sarva Mittar, BJP’s Shishpal Kamboj and sitting MLA and BJP rebel Ranjit Chautala from Rania seat. Former power minister Ranjit Chautala (79) is the younger brother of Arjun’s grandfather Om Prakash Chautala, who is the son of late Devi Lal. Ranjit had contested the elections as an independent after being denied ticket by the BJP.
Three members of the Chautala family – Dushyant Chautala of Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), his mother Naina Chautala and Ranjeet – were successful in the 2019 assembly elections. Arjun, who studied at Bishop Cotton School, Shimla, had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Kurukshetra seat, but finished fifth. This time INLD fielded him from Rania seat in Sirsa district. This is the traditional stronghold of Chautala family.
Arjun’s great grandfather Devi Lal started his politics from Sirsa and rose to the post of Deputy Prime Minister, while his son Om Prakash Chautala has been the Chief Minister of Haryana five times. Arjun’s father Abhay, (61) is Om Prakash’s younger Have sons. Abhay had contested from Ellenabad in Sirsa district, but lost the election. Other Chautalas also faced defeat. JJP leader and former deputy chief minister Dushyant (36) again contested from Uchana Kalan, but could not save his seat.
Aditya Chautala
Aditya Devi Lal (47), son of Devi Lal’s fourth son Jagdish Chandra, has won from Dabwali seat on INLD ticket. Sitting MLA and Congress candidate Amit Sihag, who lost the election, is also Devi Lal’s grandson. Dushyant’s younger brother Digvijay Chautala (33) was JJP’s candidate from this seat. Aditya had moved from INLD to BJP in 2014. However, he could not get a BJP ticket for the assembly elections that year.
In 2016, Aditya defeated Abhay Chautala’s wife and his sister-in-law Kanta Singh Chautala in the election of Zilla Parishad member in Sirsa. In the 2019 assembly elections, BJP had fielded Aditya from Dabwali, but he lost from Sihag. Later that year, BJP appointed Aditya as Sirsa district party president. The BJP-led government also appointed him the Chairman of Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board in April 2023. Aditya returned to INLD in September ahead of the ongoing assembly elections, which fielded him from the Dabwali seat.
