CHANDIGARH: Voting in 10 Lok Sabha constituencies in Haryana and by-elections to the Karnal assembly seat will take place on Saturday, deciding the fate of 223 candidates, including big names like former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Indian National Congress’ Kumari Selja.
A total of 223 candidates — 207 men and 16 women — are running in India’s sixth Lok Sabha elections, with more than 20 million people eligible to vote in the state.
Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini is contesting the Karnal by-election.
Voting will take place from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The BJP won all 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana in the 2019 general elections.
Candidates in the Lok Sabha elections include Union ministers Rao Inderjit Singh and Krishan Pal Gurjar, former prime minister Manohar Lal, and Congress party stalwarts Kumari Selja and Deepender Singh Hooda.
Khattar, the BJP candidate from Karnal, will be taking on Haryana Youth Congress Party chief Divyanshu Budhiraja.
In most constituencies in Haryana, the ruling BJP and the opposition Indian National Congress are going head-to-head, but in some constituencies such as Hisar, the contest is multi-sided.
In Hisar, Power Minister Ranjit Singh Chautala, an independent who joined the BJP ahead of the elections, is taking on two members of the Chautala family — Naina Chautala of the JJP and Sunaina Chautala of the INLD. Jai Prakash of the Indian National Congress is also in the fray.
The BJP has fielded businessman and former Indian National Congress member Naveen Jindal from Kurukshetra, who will face off against AAP state chief Sushil Gupta and INLD’s Abhay Singh Chautala.
Union ministers Inderjit Singh and Krishan Pal Gurjar are seeking re-election from Gurugram and Faridabad constituencies respectively. The Congress Party has fielded its senior member Raj Babbar from Gurugram.
Kumari Selja of the Indian National Congress and Ashok Tanwar of the Bharatiya Janata Party are standing in Sirsa, while Deepender Singh Hooda will face Arvind Sharma of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Rohtak.
During the intense campaigning for the sixth phase that ended on Thursday night, BJP leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari, and INDIA block leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Arvind Kejriwal went all out to rally support for their party candidates.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (JJP), the Bharatiya Janata Party (INLD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BSP) have also fielded candidates in the Lok Sabha elections. The JJP has 10 candidates, the BSP has nine and the INLD has seven candidates.
Several sitting state legislators, including INLD’s Kurukshetra candidate Abhay Singh Chautala, are also in the race. Incumbent state legislators Varun Chaudhary and Rao Dhan Singh of the Indian National Congress are contesting from Ambala and Bhiwani-Mahendragarh constituencies respectively.
BJP’s state legislator Mohan Lal Badri is contesting from Sonipat while JJP’s Naina Chautala is contesting from Hisar.
Saini, state BJP leader and Kurukshetra MP, replaced Khattar as chief minister on March 12. He is contesting the Karnal Assembly by-election.
Nine candidates are running in the by-election made necessary by Cutter’s resignation from the state legislature.
Haryana’s Chief Election Officer Anurag Agarwal said there are 20,076,768 registered voters in the state, of which 9,423,956 are women and 467 are transgender voters.
A total of 45,576 EVMs will be used in the state for the Lok Sabha polls and state assembly by-elections. In addition to this, 24,039 control units and 26,040 VVPAT machines will also be used, Chief Election Officer Anurag Agarwal said.
A total of 20,031 polling stations have been set up in Haryana, including 19,812 permanent and 219 auxiliary polling stations. 5,470 polling stations have been set up in urban areas and 14,342 in rural areas, he said.
As many as 99 polling stations will be run entirely by women staff. Apart from this, 96 polling stations will be run by junior staff and 71 by PwD (personalised) staff, he said.
Agarwal said polling officials across the state would leave for their respective polling stations on Friday.
Commissioner of Police Shatrujeet Kapoor said thorough security arrangements have been made to ensure smooth conduct of the elections.
Over 35,000 police officers and 112 companies of paramilitary forces will be deployed to ensure smooth conduct of the elections, he said.
Moreover, more than 24,000 SDF troops will be strategically deployed across the region to maintain law and order, he said.
An official statement said 300 check posts will be set up at intra-state and inter-state borders.
“10,343 polling stations and over 20,000 polling booths will be set up in the state. Of these, 1,362 polling stations and 3,033 polling booths have been declared critical and 51 polling booths have been identified as vulnerable, necessitating increased police presence,” the statement said.
According to the statement, 418 flying squadrons, 415 stationary surveillance teams, 34 rapid response teams and 1,039 patrol squadrons will also be deployed.
Published May 24, 2024 10:02 IST
