BJP Eyes Hat-trick, Congress A Comeback After A Decade As Haryana Votes For 90 Seats

New Delhi: The fate of Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Vinesh Phogat of the Congress besides JJP's Dushyant Chautala and 1027 other candidates will be decided on Saturday as 2 crore people will vote to elect the next Chief Minister. Elections to the 90-member Haryana assembly are being held today and counting of votes will be undertaken on October 8.The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is eyeing a hattrick of wins in the state while the Congress is hoping to make a comeback after a decade. Haryana is witnessing a multi-corner fight this time. While most seats are likely to see a direct fight between the BJP and the Congress, AAP, Jannayak Janta Party, Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram), Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) are also in the fray.In the last assembly elections, BJP emerged as the single-large party with 40 seats, while Congress won 31 and JJP secured victory on 10 seats. However, this time Congress is hoping to make gains following the satisfactory results in the Lok Sabha elections. The Congress won 5 out of 10 Parliamentary seats, while BJP's tally was reduced to half. The BJP had clinched all 10 parliamentary seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Notably, the voter turnout recorded in 2019 assembly polls was around 68 per cent.However, the two clashing groups, led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Kumari Selja respectively, have once again sharpened the factional fault lines in the Congress. While the Congress went all out to halt BJP's juggernaut in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Selja and Hooda were not seen sharing a stage during the campaign in the state. Similarly, Selja has been away from the limelight for a very long time before the assembly election. The Congress is contesting the polls alone after it failed to reach a consensus on seat-sharing with INDIA bloc ally Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). However, Congress has left the Bhiwani assembly seat for its INDIA bloc partner CPI(M) while the BJP is not contesting the Sirsa seat, from where Haryana Lokhit Party chief Gopal Kanda is seeking re-election.Haryana's Chief Electoral Officer Pankaj Agarwal said 2,03,54,350 voters, including 8,821 centurions, are eligible to exercise their franchise and the voting will be held from 7 am to 6 pm. 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 high-octane campaign came to an end Thursday evening. The BJP's campaign was spearheaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who addressed four rallies, where he attacked the Congress on several issues and said they kept every matter important for the country entangled, including the Ram temple issue.Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also addressed many public meetings where he asserted that a "Congress storm" is on its way in Haryana and his party would form the government which will be one for the poor and farmers, and a 'mohabbat ki dukan' will be opened in every corner of the state.