Fiery Contest In Sirsa: Sitting MLA Gopal Goyal Kanda Vs Congress' Gokul Setia

Haryana elections for the 90 member assembly are underway, and the incumbent MLA and Haryana Lokhit Party (HLP) candidate Gopal Goyal Kanda has expressed his confidence in retaining his seat in Sirsa constituency. A BJP ally, the HLP chief is contesting against another powerful figure, Gokul Setia, the grandson of former Haryana minister and Congress leader Lachhman Dass Arora, who recently joined the grand old party.

The sitting MLA has a solid voter base though Setia is considered a formidable contender, given his performance during the 2019 assembly elections as an independent against Kanda.

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The NDA candidate was first elected to the Haryana assembly in 2009 as an independent representative for the Sirsa constituency. In 2014, after founding his party, the Haryana Lokhit Party, Setia contested the assembly elections, only to be defeated by INLD’s Makhan Lal Singla.  Kanda has also served as a minister in the state government in Haryana. During the 2019 elections, he won Sirsa, securing only 602 votes majority against then independent Gokul Setia.

The arrival of the Setia has notably boosted the grand old party’s prospects in the constituency and the state, with his potential to emerge as a significant rival on the Congress ticket to the incumbent MLA. He contested as an independent when the BJP denied him a ticket in 2019.

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However, the HLP chief, after casting his vote today said that the BJP will come to power for the third time. “…There is a one-sided atmosphere in Sirsa. Sirsa is a religious city and every person is connected to some religious institution… There is no farmers’ issue. The Congress party has insulted the farmers a lot by giving them cheques of 2 rupees. I have seen everything very closely, no one has respected the farmers as much as Modi ji has done in this country…Our target is Congress-free Haryana and a 100% government will be formed (for the third time) we will form the government from Sirsa…I have done a lot of work, so seeing that people are voting for me,” Gopal Kanda said, news agency ANI quoted.