Vote banks set to be divided amid parties’ caste calculations

For instance, three Baniya candidates — Devender Kumar Bansal from Congress, Gian Chand Gupta from BJP and Kulbhushan Goyal from INLD — are in a triangular contest in Panchkula. D K Bansal is the incumbent MLA from Panchkula, where 23 candidates have filed nominations.

Similarly, the constituency of Kalka will see a triangular contest among members of the Punjabi community. While INLD has fielded its incumbent MLA Pradeep Chaudhary, BJP has fielded Latika Sharma while Congress has chosen Manveer Kaur Gill. In all, there are 17 coontestants.

Hisar also faces a tight contest among the Baniya community. Congress candidate Savitri Jindal will face Dr Kamal Gupta of the BJP. At least four other candidates of the Baniya community have filed nominations from Hisar seat.

In southern Haryana, dominated by Muslim population, parties have fielded their candidates accordingly. Incumbent Congress MLA Aftab Ahmed from Nuh will face competition from INLD’s Zakir Hussain and Akil Ahmed of BSP. Congress rebel Venod Sharma’s newly constituted Jan Chetna Party has also fielded a Muslim candidate, Abdul Rahim from Nuh seat.

Ferozepur-Jhirka constituency, which is also dominated by Muslims, also has Azad Mohammad from the Congress and INLD’s Naseem Ahmed. BJP’s Alam Mundal, also from the same community, will add to a tight contest in the Assembly segment presently represented by Naseem Ahmed of INLD.

As many as 1,972 candidates have filed nominations so far. The highest number of candidates, 44, filed nomination from Bhiwani Assembly constituency, while Naraingarh and Nuh have the lowest nominations, 11 each.