Whichever way polling goes on October 3, one thing is certain for Sohna Assembly constituency: it’s going to be one tough fight for all the candidates.

And big guns they are — Sohna is the only one among 90 seats in Haryana where MLAs from three different seats and one former MLA are in the fray.

Independent candidate and sitting MLA from Sohna Sukbhir Singh Jaunapuria is contesting against Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) candidate and Tauru MLA Sahida Khan and sitting MLA from Bhiwani Dharambir Singh of the Congress.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), too, has fielded a big gun in Zakir Hussain: with a strong base among Meo Muslims in Sohna, the former MLA finished runner-up to Rao Inderjeet Singh in the Lok Sabha elections from Gurgaon seat earlier this year.

INLD’s Sahida Khan is also hopeful since a major chunk of Tauru constituency has been added to Sohna after delimitation.

While factionalism within the Congress saw Dharambir Singh shunted to Sohna from his home constituency Badhra, in Bhiwani district, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda recently led a rally at Sohna to campaign for Singh. “He is my candidate,” Hooda told the crowd. “If he wins, he will be the ‘CM’ from Sohna.”

Besides the big guns, the BJP has fielded Tejpal Khatana, while the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) has Rohtash Khatana contesting from Sohna.

The constituency

Sohna has a mixed population of Gurjjars and Meo Muslims (a sect found mostly in Alwar and Bharatpur regions besides Gurgaon district). While Hussain claims the backing of Meos, Jaunapuria, Tanwar and Khatana have fairly wide support from the Gurjjar community.

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