The ruling BJP is eyeing a hat-trick while the Congress is hoping to make a comeback in Haryana after a decade. The other key contestants are Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) and Azad Samaj Party (ASP).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.Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also addressed many public meetings where he said a “Congress storm” is on its way in Haryana and his party would form the government, which will be one for the poor and farmers, and a “mohabbat ki dukan” will be opened in every corner of the state.The Congress left the Bhiwani assembly seat for its INDIA bloc partner Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), while the BJP is not contesting the Sirsa seat, from where Haryana Lokhit Party chief Gopal Kanda is seeking re-election.Most seats are likely to see a direct fight between the BJP and the Congress. Prominent among them are Chief Minister Saini (Ladwa), Leader of Opposition Hooda (Garhi Sampla-Kiloi), INLD’s Abhay Singh Chautala (Ellenabad), JJP’s Dushyant Chautala (Uchana Kalan), BJP’s Anil Vij (Ambala Cantt), Capt Abhimanyu (Narnaund) and OP Dhankar (Badli), AAP’s Anurag Dhanda (Kalayat) and Congress’s Phogat (Julana).The BJP has fielded former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal’s grandson Bhavya Bishnoi from Adampur segment in Hisar while its nominee from Ateli in Mahendragarh is Arti Rao, whose father Rao Inderjit Singh is a Union Minister. Among the independent candidates include Savitri Jindal (Hisar), Ranjit Chautala (Rania) and Chitra Sarwara (Ambala Cantt).Taking on Dushyant Chautala from Uchana is the Congress’s Brijendra Singh, the son of former Union minister Birender Singh. A few rebels from both Congress and the BJP are also contesting. From Tosham seat, former BJP MP Shruti Choudhry and Anirudh Chaudhary, both cousins, are contesting. From Dabwali, Devi Lal’s grandson Aditya Devi Lal, an INLD candidate, is taking on JJP’s Digvijay Singh Chautala, the great grandson of the former Deputy Prime Minister.In the last assembly election in 2019, the BJP won 40 seats, the Congress 31 and the JJP 10. The BJP then formed the government with the support of the JJP while most independents had also extended support to it then. However, the JJP’s post-poll tie-up with the BJP ended after the BJP replaced Manohar Lal Khattar with Nayab Singh Saini as Chief Minister in March.Director General of Police Shatrujeet Kapur said the Haryana Police are fully prepared to ensure free, fair and peaceful conduct of elections. Over 30,000 police personnel and 225 paramilitary companies have been deployed. Of the total voters, 1.07 crore are men, 95 lakh are women, and 467 are transgenders. Votes will be counted on October 8.There are 8,821 voters aged over 100, including 3,283 men and 5,538 women. The total number of service voters is 1.09 lakh. Notably, the voter turnout recorded in 2019 assembly polls was around 68 per cent.
With inputs from PTI