Haryana elections: Turncoat Ashok Tanwar returns to Congress from BJP

He had joined the BJP ahead of the 2024 general elections and contested from Sirsa but lost to Congress' Kumari Selja from the seat

Haryana BJP leader Ashok Tanwar on Friday joined Congress in the presence of Congress' senior observer for Haryana assembly elections, Ajay Maken.

Tanwar was the Congress MP from Sirsa after he won in the 2009 general elections.

The 48-year-old was appointed as Haryana Congress Chief from 2014 to 2019, when he left the party. In 2021, he joined the Trinamool Congress and switched to the Aam Aadmi Party in 2022.

He joined the BJP ahead of the 2024 general elections and contested from Sirsa but lost to Congress' Kumari Selja from the seat.

Tanwar rejoined the Congress at party leader Rahul Gandhi's rally at Haryana's Mahendragarh on Friday.

Speaking to a reporter, he criticised the BJP, accusing the party of using religion and caste in politics.

"In the last few days, Congress organised Bharat Jodo Yatra and other such events under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge. Bharat Jodo Yatra gave a direction to the country and people developed faith in the Congress party... Rahul Gandhi emerged as a strong opponent... BJP makes use of religion and caste in politics wherever applicable," Tanwar said.

The high-stakes campaigning for the single phase of polling in the Haryana Assembly elections concluded on Thursday evening, with voting set to take place for 90 constituencies.

As campaigning for the Haryana polls ends, the BJP hopes to retain power for a third consecutive term while the Congress eyes a comeback after a decade-long hiatus.

The key contesting parties in Haryana include BJP, Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), as well as the pre-poll alliance between Indian National Lok Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party (INLD-BSP) and Jannayak Janta Party (JJP)-Azad Samaj Party (ASP).

Voting in Haryana is scheduled for October 5 from 7 am to 6 pm. A total of 1,031 candidates are contesting in all 90 assembly constituencies, and 20,632 polling booths have been set up for voting.

Haryana Chief Electoral Officer Pankaj Agarwal said on Thursday that over 20.3 mn voters in the state will be able to exercise their franchise in the 15th Haryana Legislative Assembly General Elections.

Agarwal further informed that out of 2,03,54,350 voters, over 10.7 mn voters are men, while more than 9.5 mn voters are women, and 467 are third gender.

There is a total of 5,24,514 young voters, aged between 18 to 19, while there is a total of 1,49,142 voters with disabilities, out of which 93,545 are male, 55,591 are female, and 6 are third gender.

He further said that there are 2,31,093 voters above the age of 85 years, comprising 89,940 males and 1,41,153 females. Additionally, there are 8,821 voters aged over 100, including 3,283 males and 5,538 females. The total number of service voters is 1,09,217, with 1,04,426 males and 4,791 females.

The Chief Electoral Officer further informed that a total of 1,031 candidates are contesting in the elections, including 930 males and 101 females. Among these candidates, 464 are independent candidates.

The counting of votes will take place on October 8. In the 2019 Assembly elections, the BJP won 40 of the 90 seats, forming a coalition government with the JJP, which won 10 seats. The Congress secured 31 seats. However, JJP later broke out of the coalition.