Haryana Assembly polls 2024 LIVE! 22% turnout till 11 am; CM Saini, Khattar among early voters
A total of 1,031 candidates are contesting in all 90 Haryana Assembly constituencies, including 101 women
Voting began at 7 am today (October 5) in the elections to the 90-member Haryana Assembly with the ruling BJP eyeing a hat-trick of wins in the state while the Congress is hoping to make a comeback after a decade. Over 2 crore people are eligible to vote. The counting of votes will be held on October 8.
As per latest EC updates, the voter turnout at 11 am was 22.7%. It was around 9% at 9 am
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.
Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker were among the early voters.
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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 independents. A total of 20,632 polling booths have been set up for voting, Agarwal said on Friday.
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The key contesting parties in the fray are BJP, Congress, AAP, INLD-BSP and JJP-Azad Samaj Party.
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.
He also said corruption runs in the veins of the Congress and alleged it has "turned into a party of 'dalals' (middlemen) and 'damad' (son-in-law)".
Also read: October 8 Assembly poll results will mark 'countdown' to PM Modi’s 'exit': Jairam Ramesh
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.
In the previous Haryana Assembly polls in 2019, the BJP had won 40 seats, the Congress 31 and JJP 10.
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Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Saturday accused the Congress of following the policy of plundering the state by deceiving the electorate.
"Congress does the politics of 'jhooth and loot' and the people of Haryana have understood this. They have made up their minds to bring back the BJP in Haryana for a third time," Saini told reporters even as Haryana voted.
Saini, among the earlycomers, came to the booth with his wife Suman and cast his vote in his native village, Mirza, in Ambala district's Naraingarh.
Voting for all 90 Assembly seats in Haryana, which began at 7 am, will conclude at 6 pm, while the counting of votes will be taken up on October 8.
Saini is contesting the polls from Ladwa in the Kurukshetra district.
Before he cast his vote, Saini prayed at Guru Ravidas temple and a gurdwara in his village.
"The mood of the people of Haryana is clear, the BJP is going to form a government for the third time with a big mandate," Saini told reporters.
He claimed that the BJP's "double-engine" government did excellent work in 10 years and the farmers – who have been agitating on and off over minimum wage – have been happy with his government's policies.
Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Saini, one of the early voters, says BJP will assume power for the third time. The CM was speaking to ANI after casting his vote.
#WATCH | Congress candidate from Kaithal assembly seat, Aditya Surjewala offers prayers ahead of casting his vote for #HaryanaElelction
— ANI (@ANI) October 5, 2024
BJP's Leela Ram, AAP's Satbir Singh Goyat and JJP's Sandeep Garhi are contesting from the Kaithal seat pic.twitter.com/mdap4brcKt