Haryana parties gear up as assembly poll date announced

Leading political parties in Haryana Friday said that they were all set for next month's assembly elections with the Election Commission (EC) announcing that polling will be held in the state Oct 15.

All 90 assembly seats will go to polls in a single phase Oct 15, while votes will be counted Oct 19. There are over 1.62 crore eligible voters including over 30.4 lakh new voters enrolled in the state.

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that the Congress would form the government in the state for a third term.

"Looking at the response from people in recent days, I can tell you that the Congress will return to power for a third term," said Hooda, who became chief minister in March 2005 in his first term.

The ruling Congress is facing a stiff challenge from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the main opposition Indian National Lok Dal (INLD).

The BJP, which won seven out of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in the recent parliamentary polls, is upbeat about forming a government on its own in Haryana for the first time.

"We are ready for the assembly elections. The BJP will form the next government in the state," said state BJP president Ram Bilas Sharma.

INLD leader Abhay Chautala also asserted his party was ready to oust the land-scam tainted Hooda government.

"The INLD is going to form the next government and oust the Hooda government which has been the most corrupt with a number of land scams," he said.

Most seats are likely to see multi-cornered contests with the Congress, BJP, INLD, Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) being in the fray along with newly formed Jan Chetna Party and Haryana Lokhit Party (HLP).

In recent days, a number of leaders have left the Congress and the INLD to join the BJP.

In the October 2009 assembly polls, there were a total of 1,222 candidates in the fray for the 90 seats.