More than 2 crore voters are set to decide the fate of 1031 candidates in the single-phase Assembly Election in Haryana, polling for which will be held on Saturday.
Haryana Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Pankaj Agrawal on Friday stated that out of 2.04 crore voters, 1.07 crore are men, 95.78 lakh women and 467 transgenders.
There are 5.25 lakh young voters aged 18 to 19, and 1.49 lakh voters with disabilities, out of which 93,545 are male, 55,591 female and six Third Gender.
He further said that there are 2.31 lakh voters above the age of 85 years, comprising 89,940 males and 1.41 lakh females. Additionally, there are 8,821 voters aged over 100, including 3,283 males and 5,538 females. The total number of service voters are 1.09 lakh, with 1.04 lakh males and 4,791 gemales.
The CEO further informed that a total of 1,031 Candidates are contesting in the election, including 930 males and 101 females. Among these candidates, 464 are Independent candidates.
A total of 20,632 booths have been set up for the polling, which will begin at 0700 hours and end at 1800 hours.
The main contest is likely to be between Ruling BJP and main Opposition party Congress, however there are Jannayak Janta Party-Azad Samaj Party alliance, Indian National Lok Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance, Aam Aadmi Party in the fray as well.
Besides there are scores of independent candidates including rebels from the BJP and the Congress making the contest multi-corner. While, BJP with the campaign like “Non-stop Haryana” and slogan likes “Bharosa Dil Se, BJP Phir Se” hopes to prove itself third time lucky, the Congress, with the slogan “BJP Ja Rahi Hai, Congress Aa Rahi Hai” and “Haath Badlega Haalaat” wants to return to power after ten years.
Some of the seats to be keenly watched include Ladwa of Kurukshetra, from where Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini is contesting, Gadhi Sampla Kiloi, from where Former Chief Minister Bhupendra Singh Hooda is in the fray, Uchana Kalan of Jind from where former Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala is contesting and Julana of Jind from Wrestler Vinesh Phogat has been fielded by the Congress.
Also, Hisar, where richest woman Savitri Jindal, a BJP rebel, is contesting as an Independent, Dabwali of Sirsa district, where three members of Chautala clan Amit Sihag (Congress), Aditya Chautala (INLD) and Digvijay Chautala (JJP) are locking horns, Tosham of Bhiwani where Shruti Chowdhary of BJP is pitted against her cousin Anirudh Chowdhary and Ambala Cantt. from where Former Home Minister Anil Vij is facing a challenge from a Congress rebel Chitra Sarvara.
Interestingly, Chitra’s father Former Minister Nirmal Singh is contesting from the adjoining Ambala City seat as a Congress Candidate.
The counting of votes will be taken up on October 8.
