Haryana Election: All Eyes On October 5 As High-Decibel Campaigns End, 1,031 Candidates In Fray

Haryana Election: There are 1,031 candidates in the fray for the Haryana Assembly polls, including 101 women. A total of 20,629 polling booths have been set up for the elections.

File photo of CM Nayab Saini, PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi and Dushyant Chautala.

Source : PTI

The high-decibel campaign in Haryana for the October 5 assembly polls ended on Thursday evening as the BJP aims to retain power for the third term even as Congress eyes a comeback after a decade.

The polling for all the 90 constituencies in Haryana will take place on October 5 from 7 am to 6 pm, while the results will be declared on October 8.

More than two crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in Haryana. Hours before the deadline of campaigning at 6 pm on October 3, parties, including the BJP, Congress, AAP, INLD-BSP and JJP-Azad Samaj Party made their last efforts to woo voters.

Haryana Elections: Key Candidates 

There are 1,031 candidates in the fray for the Haryana Assembly polls, including 101 women. A total of 20,629 polling booths have been set up for the elections.

The key candidates in this election include CM Nayab Singh Saini (Ladwa), Bhupinder Singh Hooda (Garhi Sampla-Kiloi), Abhay Singh Chautala (Ellenabad), Dushyant Chautala (Uchana), Anil Vij (Ambala Cantt), OP Dhankhar (Badla), Anurag Dhanda (Kalayat), and Vinesh Phogat (Julana). 

Among the independent candidates include Savitri Jindal (Hisar), Ranjit Chautala (Rania) and Chitra Sarwara (Ambala Cantt).

In the 2019 assembly elections, BJP had won 40 seats, while Congress came second with 31 seats.

Last Day Sees High-Octane Campaign

In an interesting turn of events days ahead of the polls, senior BJP leader and former MP Ashok Tanwar joined the Congress at Rahul Gandhi's rally in Mahendragarh district Thursday. Shortly before joining the Congress, the former Sirsa MP was campaigning for the BJP candidate in the Safidon assembly constituency.

The BJP focused its election campaign on the works and performance of the double-engine government, while it targeted the Congress on reservation, corruption, appeasement and dynastic politics. 

Meanwhile, on the last day of campaigning, Congress's Rahul Gandhi and Bhupinder Singh Hooda, BJP's Yogi Adityanath and Nayab Singh Saini, JJP's Dushyant Chautala and INLD's Abhay Singh Chautala were among the prominent leaders who canvassed for their respective parties.

The BJP's campaign was spearheaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who addressed four rallies, where he attacked the Congress on several issues and said they kept every matter important for the country entangled, including the Ram temple issue. Modi and other BJP leaders like Amit Shah targeted the Congress, saying when it ruled the state they did not give even one job in Haryana in which kharchi and parchi was not prevalent.

AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal also campaigned in Haryana for his party. AAP is contesting the Haryana polls on its own after talks for a tie-up with the Congress in Haryana failed to materialise. 

What Have Parties Promised?

The Congress has announced seven guarantees, including the promises of a legal guarantee for MSP, a caste survey, and Rs 2,000 per month to women, if voted to power.

On the other hand, the BJP has promised a monthly assistance of Rs 2,100 for women, two lakh government jobs for the youth and guaranteed government jobs for 'Agniveers' hailing from the state.

What Happened In 2019 Polls?

In the previous assembly elections in 2019, the BJP had won 40 seats and the Congress 31. The BJP formed the government with the support of JJP while most Independents had also extended support to it then. 

However, JJP's post-poll tie-up with the BJP ended after the saffron party replaced Manohar Lal Khattar with Nayab Singh Saini as chief minister in March.