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The Haryana Assembly elections are set to conclude with voting across all 90 seats, including 17 reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs), on Saturday.
Initially scheduled to be held on October 1, along with the last phase of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls, voting was deferred in Haryana by the Election Commission citing the Bishnoi community’s Amavasya festival and the long weekend around Gandhi Jayanti.
While the primary contest is between the ruling BJP and Congress, the state’s alliance dynamics has seen a churn. Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP ended its tie-up with the Dushyant Chautala-led Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), which has now allied with Chandrashekhar Azad’s Aazad Samaj Party. While the Opposition INDIA bloc partners Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had struck a seat-sharing deal for the general elections, they were unable to come to an agreement for the Assembly polls. And the O P Chautala-led Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) is contesting with the Mayawati-led BSP.
The BJP is hoping for a third consecutive term, having won an outright majority in 2014 and partnered with the JJP in 2019 to form a coalition government. The Congress’s last stint in power was also for two terms, between 2005 and 2014.
In the 2014 Assembly polls, after the “Modi wave” Lok Sabha election, the BJP had ended the Congress’s decade-long run under former Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda to form a government in Haryana for the first time. With a 33.3% vote share and 47 seats – enough to clear the 46-seat majority mark – the BJP came to power with Manohar Lal Khattar as the CM. The INLD was the next largest party with 19 seats and 24.2% vote share, followed by the Congress at 15 and 20.7%.
But in 2019, despite having swept all the 10 seats in the preceding Lok Sabha polls, the BJP fell short of a majority in the Assembly elections in Haryana, with 40 seats – though its vote share rose to 36.5%. The JJP, making its Assembly poll debut after breaking away from the INLD in 2018, proved kingmaker with its 10 seats and 14.8% vote share, and allied with the BJP to form a coalition government. The Congress won 31 seats and a 28.1% vote share to become the primary Opposition. The INLD, though, fell to just one seat and 2.4% vote share.
The recently concluded Lok Sabha polls saw the BJP further lose ground – dropping from all 10 in 2019 to five.
The 2024 Lok Sabha data extrapolated to the Assembly segment level suggests the state could see a hung House this time. At the Assembly segment level – each Lok Sabha constituency contains several Assembly constituencies – the BJP won the most votes in 44 of Haryana’s total 90 Assembly seats. The Congress was not far behind at 42, with the AAP leading in the remaining four seats. The JJP and INLD did not lead in any Assembly segment.
Total seats: 90 – 17 reserved for Scheduled Castes
Total voters: 2.05 crore – 1.09 crore men, 95.83 lakh women and 467 transgender voters
Turnout in 2019: 68.31%
Total candidates: 1,031
Candidates with criminal cases: 133 (13% of total candidates)
The Barwala, Ferozepur Jhirka and Shahbad seats have the most candidates with criminal cases at four each.
Crorepati candidates: 538 (52%)
Average assets: Rs 8.69 crore
Capt Abhimany, contesting in Narnaund for the BJP, is the richest candidate in this election with assets worth Rs 491.48 crore.
Women candidates: 100 (9.7%)
Average age of candidates: 47.9 years
Youngest: Eight candidates aged 25, including one from the Congress, six Independents and one from a minor party
Oldest: Raghuvir Singh Kadian, 80, contesting Beri for the Congress; and Prem Chand, 80, contesting Assandh for the Buland Bharat Party
Candidates who are graduates or above: 492 (47.72%)
Source: ADR
Ladwa | CM Nayab Singh Saini, BJP, vs sitting Congress MLA Mewa Singh
Garhi Sampla-Kiloi | Former CM Bhupinder Hooda, Congress, vs BJP’s Manju Hooda, daughter of retired police officer
Uchana Kalan | Former Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala, JJP, vs former MP Brijendra Singh, Congress, vs BJP’s Devender Chaturbhuj Attri
Julana | Olympian wrestler Vinesh Phogat, Congress, vs professional wrestler Kavita Dalal, AAP, vs BJP’s Yogesh Kumar
Sirsa | Haryana Lokhit Party chief Gopal Kanda, backed by the BJP, vs Sirsa strongman Gokul Setia, Congress
Hodal | Congress state chief Udai Bhan vs BJP’s Harinder Singh, poll debutant and son of former two-time MLA
Ambala Cantt | State Home Minister Anil Vij, BJP, vs Congress’s Parvinder Pal Pari, vs Congress rebel Chitra Sarwara contesting as an Independent
Ellenabad | INLD’s sitting MLA Abhay Singh Chautala, son of former CM O P Chautala, vs BJP’s Amir Chand Talwara, vs Congress’s Bharat Singh Beniwal
