Independents are down from seven in 2019 to three in Haryana’s 90-member Assembly. However, they have made their mark as spoilers.

The Aam Aadmi Party had little impact on the election, which was largely a bipolar contest.

The three Independents who won were Congress rebel Rajesh Joon from Bahadurgarh, and BJP rebels Devender Kadyan from Ganaur and Savitri Jindal from Hisar. Jindal, a former Congress minister, is the mother of BJP parliamentarian Naveen Jindal.

AAP candidates made an impact in the urban seats of Panchkula and Rohtak, with their vote counts higher than the margin of victory. The Congress won both these seats with the BJP runner-up and the AAP in third place in either seat.

The AAP had fought in alliance with the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) the last time, but it contested alone this time after a failed bid for an alliance with the Congress. The AAP won 1.79 per cent of the votes.

Independents were runners-up in seven constituencies, including the seats of BJP ministers Anil Vij and Moolchand Sharma. In both these seats, Congress rebels came second.

In two seats won by the Congress — Meham and Sirsa — smaller parties came second. Incumbent MLA Balraj Kundu of the Haryana Jan Sevak Party was runner-up in Meham, and controversial former minister Gopal Kanda of the Haryana Lokhit Party came second in Sirsa.

Independents made a significant impact on the verdict in several key seats including the VIP seats of Hodal, Tosham and Uchana Kalan.

State Congress president Udai Bhan lost to the BJP’s Harinder Singh by just 2,595 votes in Hodal. Here, AAP rebel and former BJP leader Naveen Rohilla won 2,077 votes as an Independent.

In Tosham, former chief minister Bansi Lal’s grandchildren Shruti Choudhry and Anirudh Chaudhary faced off against each other, on BJP and Congress tickets, respectively.

The BJP won by 14,257 votes and BJP rebel Shahsi Ranjan Parmar came third as an Independent with 15,859 votes.

In Uchana Kalan, former deputy chief minister and outgoing JJP member Dushyant Chautala came fifth with 7,950 votes. The BJP’s Devender Attri won by just 32 votes over the Congress’s Brijendra Singh, the great-grandson of Jat icon Sir Chhotu Ram.

Congress rebel Virender Ghogharian won 31,456 votes, and fellow Independent and Uchana municipal chairman Vikas won 13,458 votes.