 "Haryana Assembly elections 2024: The key contests you must keep an eye on")
Haryana will vote to elect its 90-member Legislative Assembly on Saturday (October 5). Over 1,000 candidates are in the fray as the Hindi belt state goes to the polls. The results are slated for October 8, along with the counting of votes for Jammu and Kashmir.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is vying to retain the state, while the Congress is hoping to wrest Haryana from the saffron party. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Independents are also eyeing to give stiff competition to the two main rivals.
Here’s a look at the main seats and contests in Haryana.
Haryana Assembly polls: Key seats
Electors will seal the fate of 1,031 candidates, including 462 Independents, in Haryana on Saturday. No political party has managed to secure a landslide victory in the state in the past three Assembly elections.
In the 2019 Haryana Assembly polls, the BJP won 40 out of the total 90 seats in the House, Congress 31, Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) 10, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and Haryana Lokhit Party (HLP) one seat each, and Independents seven. The saffron party came to power with the help of regional parties — JJP and HLP — and six Independents.
This time, several Independent candidates, including Congress and BJP ‘rebels’, are giving a tough fight to the two national parties.
The key Assembly seats to watch out for in these elections are Julana, Ladwa, Uchana Kalan, Garhi-Sampla-Kiloi, Ellenabad, Ateli, Mulana, Ambala Cantt, Karnal, Badli, Hisar, Tosham and Kaithal.
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Nayab Singh Saini: Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini has been fielded by the BJP from the Ladwa constituency in the Kurukshetra district. Considered a safe seat for him, Saini will be taking on the Congress candidate Mewa Singh. Other contestants in the fray are AAP’s Joga Singh, INLD’s Sher Singh Barshami, and JJP’s Vinod Sharma.
The constituency was carved out in 2007 when the INLD’s Sher Singh Barshami became its first MLA. After he was convicted in the teachers’ recruitment scam, the BJP’s Pawan Saini won the seat.
Since 2009, no party has been victorious from the Ladwa constituency twice. In 2019, the Congress’ Mewa Singh had won the seat.
Vinesh Phogat: Olympian wrestler Vinesh Phogat is in the race from the Julana seat in the Jind area on a Congress ticket. The wrestler-turned-politician, who hails from Balali in Charkhi Dadri, has her in-laws’ hometown in Julana.
Before this, Julana reportedly never had a female candidate. Phogat is being challenged by BJP’s Captain Yogesh Bairagi, former commercial pilot and current vice president of Haryana’s BJP youth wing, and the AAP’s Kavita Dalal.
Dalal is a former WWE star and the 2016 South Asian Gold Medalist in weightlifting.
JJP’s Amarjeet Dhanda and Surender Lather of the INLD are also contesting from the Jat-dominated seat.
Bhupinder Singh Hooda: Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is the Congress candidate from the Garhi-Sampla-Kiloi seat in Rohtak. Known as the ‘Jat heartland,’ the area is a stronghold of Hooda. The BJP has given a ticket to Manju Hooda, the current chairperson of the Rohtak Zila Parishad, while the AAP’s nominee is Pravin Guskhani.
Abhay Singh Chautala: Senior INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala is seeking to retain the Ellenabad constituency in the Sirsa district. He has held the seat since 2010. It was previously won by his father OP Chautala.
The INLD is fighting the elections in an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which has fielded candidates on 37 of the 90 seats.
Chautala is up against the BJP’s Amir Chand Mehta, Congress candidate Bharat Singh Beniwal and AAP’s Manish Arora.
Dushyant Chautala: Former Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala is fighting on a JJP ticket from the Uchana Kalan seat in Hisar. The BJP has chosen Devender Attri and the Congress’ candidate is Brijendra Singh, a former IAS officer and BJP turncoat. The AAP has put up Pawan Fauji from Uchana Kalan.
In 2019, Chautala had defeated BJP’s Prem Lata by a significant margin to win the seat.
Anil Vij: Former Haryana minister Anil Vij is BJP’s pick for the Ambala Cantonment constituency. He is seeking re-election for the seventh time from the seat.
Vij, who was the home minister in the previous Manohar Lal Khattar government, was dropped from the Haryana Cabinet after Nayab Singh Saini came to power in March this year.
Vij is facing Congress’ Parvinder Singh Pari from the seat.
The other key candidates are Savitri Jindal, who is contesting as an Independent, from Hisar, BJP’s Arti Rao Singh from the Ateli constituency, Haryana Congress chief Udai Bhan from the Hodal Assembly constituency, Congress’ Aditya Surjewala from Kaithal, and BJP’s Badli candidate Om Prakash Dhankar.
With inputs from agencies
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