Haryana polls: 22.7% voter turnout recorded till 11 am

The voting for the Haryana Assembly elections began on Saturday in all 90 constituencies of the state.

Polling began at 7 am and will end at 6 pm. More than two crore voters are eligible to cast their votes in Haryana across 20,630 polling booths.

More than 1,030 candidates are in the fray, including 302 from national parties, 121 from parties based in the state and 464 Independents.

A turnout of 22.7% was recorded till 11 am, according to the Election Commission.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, which is fighting to win a third-consecutive term, is facing a challenge from the Congress led by former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

The Indian National Lok Dal has tied up with the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Dushyant Chautala-led Jannayak Janata Party has allied with MP Chandrashekhar Azad’s Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram).

The Aam Aadmi Party, which is the Congress’ ally at the national level, is contesting the polls alone.

The counting of votes will take place on Tuesday, alongside that of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls. The Union territory had voted in three phases over the past three weeks.

Also read: Why the Congress and AAP failed to forge an alliance in Haryana

Key battles

Among the key battles in the polls, wrestler Vinesh Phogat is contesting from Jind district’s Julana constituency on a Congress ticket. The BJP has fielded Captain Yogesh Bairagi against her. The Aam Aadmi Party has picked wrestling entertainment star Kavita Dalal for the seat.

In January 2023, several top Indian wrestlers, including Phogat, launched a protest against former Wrestling Federation of India chief and BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh accusing him of intimidation and sexual harassment. The protestors were manhandled by the police at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on May 3, 2023.

Also read: Vinesh Phogat is winning over Haryana’s women – but is still wrestling with a tough election

Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini is contesting from Kurukshetra’s Ladwa constituency. He had been elected to the Karnal seat in a bye-election held there in May.

Bhupinder Singh Hooda is fighting from the Garhi Sampla-Kiloi constituency, which is considered his stronghold. He

Former Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala is contesting from Jind district’s Uchana Kalan seat.

Former state home minister and BJP leader Anil Vij is fighting against Congress’ Parvinder Pal Pari in the Ambala Cantonment constituency.

Indian National Lok Dal leader Abhay Singh Chautala is seeking re-election from the Ellenabad seat in Sirsa district. He is fighting against the BJP’s district chief Amir Chand Talwara and Congress’ Bharat Singh Beniwal.

Savitri Jindal, the chairperson emeritus of the OP Jindal Group, is contesting as an Independent candidate from Hisar. She had quit the Congress and joined the BJP in March.

Also read: Organised chaos: Why BJP is encouraging multiple chief minister claimants in Haryana

In the 2019 Haryana elections, the BJP won 40 seats in the 90-member Assembly. Having fallen short of the majority mark, it had formed the government with the support of the Jannayak Janta Party. The Congress had won 31 seats.

Manohar Lal Khattar, who had been the state’s chief minister since October 2014, retained his position and Dushyant Chautala became his deputy.

In March, weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP replaced Khattar with Saini as the chief minister. The ties between the Hindutva party and the Jannayak Janta Party also snapped, leading to Dushyant Chautala’s resignation.

In the general elections, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance and the Opposition INDIA bloc won five seats each. Haryana has 10 Lok Sabha constituencies. The BJP had won all 10 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Exit polls for Haryana and the Jammu and Kashmir elections will be released after polling concludes on Saturday evening.

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