CHANDIGARH: The fate of Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Vinesh Phogat of the Congress besides JJP’s Dushyant Chautala and 1,027 other candidates will be decided on Saturday as elections to the 90-member Haryana assembly will be held with over 2 crore people eligible to vote.
The ruling BJP is eyeing a hat-trick of wins in the state while the Congress is hoping to make a comeback after a decade. The counting of votes will be held on October 8.
State chief electoral officer Pankaj Agarwal said 2,03,54,350 voters, including 8,821 centurions, are eligible to vote which will be held from 7 am to 6 pm.
DGP Shatrujeet Kapur said Haryana Police is fully prepared to ensure free, fair and peaceful conduct of elections. Over 30,000 police personnel and 225 paramilitary companies have been deployed.
Adequate police presence will be maintained at the booths and locations, among which 3,460 polling booths have been classified as critical, and 138 have been deemed vulnerable, necessitating additional security measures. As many as 186 interstate and 215 intra-state checkpoints have been established, where police teams will monitor movements closely.
A total of 1,031 candidates are contesting in all 90 assembly constituencies, including 101 women. Among these candidates, 464 are contesting as independent. A total of 20,632 polling booths have been set up for voting, Agarwal said on Friday.
The grand old party is contesting 89 seats as it left the Bhiwani assembly seat for its INDIA bloc partner CPM. The saffron party, too, is contesting an equal number of seats as Haryana Lokhit Party chief Gopal Kanda is seeking re-election from the Sirsa seat.
Besides the BJP and Congress other political parties in the fray are AAP, INLD-BSP and JJP-Azad Samaj Party alliance. Most seats are likely to see a direct fight between BJP and the Congress.
There are 20 assembly segments in the Jat heartland where there might be a multi-cornered contest as the ‘rebel’ leaders of BJP and Congress who were denied the party ticket are in the fray as Independent candidates. Besides these seats there is a direct contest between the saffron and grand old party in about 70 of the total of 90 assembly seats.
Sources said assembly constituencies where these “rebels” can upset the apple cart of both parties are Ellenabad, Ambala Cantt, Kalayat, Gurugram, Dabwali, Pundri, Baroda, Hisar, Gohana, Panipat City, Panipat Rural, Ganaur, Punhana, Rewari and Rania.
The INLD-BSP, AAP and the JJP-ASP alliance candidates may also spring a surprise. Both BJP and Congress changed their strategy for these seats at the eleventh hour.
In the assembly polls in 2019, BJP won 40 seats, Congress 31 and JJP 10.
In race for CM post if Congress wins, says Selja
Senior Congress leader Kumari Selja asserted that she is in the race for the CM post if the party comes to power in the state. “See, that only high command will have to answer, they will only decide. There are a few people who would be in the consideration zone, and I think Selja would be there. The high command would look at the seniority, work done, and everything else. These political decisions would be taken by high command,” she said. Selja dismissed reports of her joining BJP. “Selja is Congressi,” she said, adding she is not upset with the party.