Chautala quits Ellenabad assembly seat, retains Uchana Kalan

Chandigarh, Nov 4 : Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) president and former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala has decided to give up Ellenabad assembly seat and retain Uchana Kalan from where he was elected in the Oct 13 assembly poll, state assembly officials said here Wednesday.

Chautala conveyed his decision to give up the Ellenabad seat from Sirsa district and assembly Speaker Harmohinder Singh Chatha accepted it Wwednesday, assembly officials said.

The speaker declared the Ellenabad seat vacant, and the Election Commission could order elections there next month to take place along with the assembly polls in Jharkhand.

Chautala was elected last month from the Uchana Kalan and Ellenabad seats - both of which he had contested.

He chose to retain the Uchana Kalan seat in Jind district, which he won by a small margin of 621 votes in a tough contest with Haryana's former finance minister Birender Singh.

He won the Ellenabad seat by a margin of over 16,400 votes from his home district of Sirsa.

The INLD returned with 31 seats in the assembly but with Chautala's resignation, its tally goes down to 30 seats.

The ruling Congress, which got 40 seats in the 90-member assembly, formed the government last month with support of seven Independents and one legislator of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

--IANS