Test for Hooda as Haryana votes Thursday

Haryana votes Thursday for all 10 Lok Sabha seats from the state in a single phase in what is seen as a test for the ruling Congress and Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Nearly 1.61 crore electors, including over 73.8 lakh women, are eligible to vote. They will choose their representatives from a total of 230 candidates, including 10 women, who are in the fray.

Director General of Police Shriniwas Vashisht Wednesday said the Haryana Police has made elaborate security arrangements for peaceful conduct of the Lok Sabha polls.

"About 45,000 officers and personnel of Haryana Police, assisted by about 20,000 Home Guard volunteers and ex-servicemen have been deployed for this duty," Vashisht said.

Besides, 74 companies of central para-military forces and security forces from other states have been deployed.

The state is witnessing multi-cornered contests on most of the seats. The major parties in the electoral fray are the ruling Congress, main opposition Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which is in alliance with the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC), the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

The big names in the fray include billionaire-industrialist Naveen Jindal (Congress-Kurukshetra), Deepinder Hooda (Congress-Rohtak), Dushyant Chautala (INLD-Hisar), Kuldeep Bishnoi (HJC-Hisar), Yogendra Yadav (AAP-Gurgaon) and Shruti Chaudhary (Bhiwani-Mahendergarh).

The younger generations of Haryana's famous 'Lals' - Devi Lal, Bansi Lal and Bhajan Lal - are in the fray.

Former deputy prime minister Devi Lal's great-grandson Dushyant Chautala, 26, is contesting his first election in Hisar constituency from where former chief minister Bhajan Lal's son Kuldeep Bishnoi - whose HJC has an alliance with the BJP - is seeking re-election.

Haryana strongman and former chief minister Bansi Lal's grand-daughter Shruti Chaudhary is also seeking re-election from Bhiwani-Mahendergarh constituency.

Rohtak MP Deepinder Hooda, son of incumbent chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who has been in power since March 2005, is also seeking re-election. He could not campasign this time as he is bed-ridden due to a slipped disc problem. His campaign was managed by his mother, wife, father and other leaders.

Haryana Chief Electoral Officer Shrikant Walgad Wednesday said all arrangements were in place for Thursday's poll.

The outcome of the Lok Sabha polls is likely to have an impact on the Haryana assembly elections to be held in October later this year.