Campaigning for Haryana Assembly election ends: Over 75,000 police deployed as 1.83 crore electorate prepares to vote

Campaigning for the Haryana Assembly election came to an end at 5 pm on Saturday. After the Election Commission announced poll dates on 21 September, the Model Code of Conduct came into effect and campaigning by parties gained momentum. The deadline for candidates to file their nomination papers was 4 October. The results will be declared on 24 October.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi being garlanded during an election campaign rally ahead of Assembly polls in Sirsa district of Haryana. PTI

Of the over 1.83 crore voters, over 83 lakh are women. The state will have 19,578 polling stations, with 13,837 of them located in rural areas. Haryana has 90 Assembly segments, for which 1,169 candidates, including 105 women, are contesting.

For the polling day, over 75,000 police personnel have been mobilised as part of the security arrangements, PTI reported.

Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Navdeep Singh Virk said 130 companies of Central Armed Police Forces have been deployed in the state Additionally, 26,896 state police personnel, 22,806 home guard volunteers, 7,936 special police officers and 6,001 police trainees are on poll duty to ensure tight vigil and security at all polling stations.

Flying squads and other surveillance teams will be on duty to prevent Model code of Conduct violations, like distribution of cash, liquor and other freebies, while 21 senior police officers have been deputed to keep a check on the law and order situation.

The neighbouring states will also deploy maximum force in their territory to ensure sealing of inter-state borders before the polls. The Delhi Police has increased vigilance along the city borders, with checking of vehicles along the Delhi-Haryana border being done to prevent the transportation of illicit liquor during dry days in the poll-bound state, according to a senior police officer.

Issues like the abrogation of Article 370, unemployment and farmers’ woes came into focus during the canvassing. Among the major parties in the fray are Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Abhay Singh Chautala’s Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and Dushyant Chautala’s Janata Jannayak Party (JJP).

On the last day of campaigning, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed two rallies in Sirsa and Rewari.

In the 2014 Assembly polls, the BJP had won 47 seats. It won the Jind bypolls earlier this year, taking the total strength to 48. The INLD had 19 MLAs while the Congress has 17 legislators. The BSP and the SAD had bagged one seat each in the last polls while five were Independents.

- With inputs from agencies