It is a tough battle ahead for Congress in Haryana as the party has a lot at stakes, while BJP-Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) alliance, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and BSP have nothing to lose in the elections for 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
The vote share of Congress in 2009 and 2004 Lok Sabha polls was an identical 42.13 per cent, as per Election Commission data. The total electorate in the state was 1.23 crore in 2004 which came down to 1.20 crore in 2009.
Congress had gone it alone in 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha polls without any alliance and won nine seats both the time.
Sonipat seat was bagged by BJP in 2004, while in 2009 HJC was victorious in Hisar.
BJP's vote share too remained an identical 17.21 per cent in 2004 and 2009, while INLD maintained to keep its vote share at 22.43 per cent in 2004 and 2009.
Kuldeep Bishnoi-led relatively new outfit HJC's vote share was 10.01 per cent in 2009, as per the data. The party won Hisar seat where Bishnoi drubbed Congress candidate.
In the past one decade, both BJP and INLD failed to open their account as both the political outfits entered the electoral battle without forging any alliance.
Before the upcoming 2014 general elections, hectic efforts were made at different levels for a tie up between BJP and INLD. However, this could not take place and BJP preferred to go with HJC in the state.
In the 1999 Lok Sabha polls when BJP and INLD forged an alliance and contested five seats each, Congress had miserably failed to open its account.
While BJP's vote share in 1999 was 29.21 per cent, its ally INLD had polled 28.72 per cent votes that time.
The other major political player BSP had remained a non- starter in Haryana since 1999 in the Lok Sabha polls. Its vote share, however, jumped from 1.96 per cent in 1999 to 4.98 per cent in 2004, which the party retained in 2009.
The ruling Congress is facing a strong anti-incumbency in the state, while INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala and his son Ajay Singh Chautala are cooling their heels in Tihar Jail in Delhi in connection with a teachers' recruitment scandal.
BJP is banking on its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's charisma and its ally HJC is eyeing non-Jat votes as caste equations matter a lot in Haryana polls.