Chandigarh: Eight Haryana ministers lost the assembly elections, which saw just two of the 10 ministers fielded by the ruling BJP returning to the state assembly.
Cabinet minister and five-time MLA Anil Vij retained his traditional bastion of Ambala Cantonment, whereas minister of state Dr Banwari Lal emerged victorious from Bawal.
Vij drubbed Congress rebel Chitra Sarwara, who fought as independent, by over 20,000 votes. Dr Lal retained Bawal, defeating Dr M L Ranga by over 32,000 votes.
The minister who lost the elections are Ram Bilas Sharma (Mahendragarh), Capt Abhimanyu (Narnaund), Om Prakash Dhankar (Badli), Kavita Jain (Sonipat), Krishan Lal Panwar (Israna), Manish Kumar Grover (Rohtak), Krishan Kumar Bedi (Shahbad), and Karan Dev Kamboj (Radaur).
The BJP had earlier denied tickets to two of its ministers-Vipul Goel and Rao Narbir Singh.
The saffron party's idea of shifting minister Karan Dev Kamboj from Indri to Raduar also failed to yield positive results. Khattar retained his Karnal constituency.
Grover and Kamboj lost to their rivals by just over 2,000 votes, whereas other ministers faced defeat by over 10,000 votes.
Lone woman minister in the Khattar cabinet, Kavita Jain, a three-time MLA, lost her traditional Sonipat seat to Surender Panwar of the Congress by a margin of over 32,000 votes.
