Polling for all the 90 Assembly seats in Haryana began on Saturday morning amid tight security arrangements, officials said. The fate of Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, Congress leaders Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Vinesh Phogat, besides the JJP's Dushyant Chautala and 1,027 other candidates, will be decided in the polls in which more than two crore people are eligible to vote. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is eyeing a hat-trick of Assembly election wins in the state, while the Congress is hoping to return to power after 10 years. The counting of votes will be taken up on October 8. The voting is being held from 7 am 6 pm. Haryana's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Pankaj Agarwal had earlier said 2,03,54,350 voters, including 8,821 centurions, are eligible to exercise their franchise. A total of 1,031 candidates are contesting the election, including 101 women and 464 Independent nominees. A total of 20,632 polling booths have been set up, Agarwal had said. Besides the BJ
Agnipath scheme, wrestlers' protests, farmers' agitation among issues in elections
Some analysts believe Dalits will support the Congress en bloc but others think that a major chunk of the community, especially some of the less dominant SC sub-caste groups, might vote for BJP
The Haryana Assembly elections, with 90 constituencies, are set for October 5, with the vote count slated for October 8
He had joined the BJP ahead of the 2024 general elections and contested from Sirsa but lost to Congress' Kumari Selja from the seat
Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday expressed confidence that the BJP will form a government in Jammu and Kashmir as well as in Haryana after the assembly elections. He also said that although elections have not been declared in Jharkhand, the Bharatiya Janata Party's ongoing 'Parivartan Yatra' in that state is getting a good response. "I have been to Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana amid the assembly polls. I am totally confident that the BJP is going to form governments there. The atmosphere in Haryana is very good and we are going to form a government there as well," Chouhan told reporters at his residence here. "Though elections are not declared in Jharkhand, we are working there and the party's 'Parivartan Yatra' is getting a huge response in that state," the Union Agriculture Minister said before leaving for Jharkhand from Bhopal. The three-phase elections to the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir assembly were held on September 18 and 25 and on October 1, while the ...
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha on Friday alleged that the "disease of unemployment" spread by the BJP has put the security of Haryana and the future of the youth in "deep danger", and asserted that a Congress government will ensure that employment returns and every family is prosperous in the state. Gandhi shared on X a video of his interaction with a group of women during his recent Vijay Sankalp Yatra. Along with the video, he said in his post on X, "The disease of unemployment spread by BJP has put the roots of Haryana, the future of the youth and the security of the state in deep danger." "Some sisters of Haryana gave shelter during the Vijay Sankalp Yatra, fed homemade rotis with great love and also explained the complex problems of the state," Gandhi said. Today, Haryana has the highest unemployment in India, he said. "The reason for this is - BJP has broken the backbone of every system that provides employment to the youth of the state in a decade," he alleged. The
Sarma highlighted the Assam government's stringent actions against drugs and mentioned that during interrogations, suspects revealed they were transporting these substances to Haryana and Punjab
In a setback to the BJP, its senior leader and former MP Ashok Tanwar joined the Congress at a rally of Rahul Gandhi in Mahendragarh district in Haryana on Thursday, two days before the state goes to polls. As Gandhi was winding up his speech, an announcement was made from the stage asking the audience to wait for a few minutes. Soon after, Tanwar, who had joined the BJP earlier this year, walked onto the stage and it was announced that "aaj unki ghar vapsi ho gayi ha (today, he has returned to the Congress fold)". Tanwar, who was considered close to Gandhi and had left the Congress in 2019 following differences with senior party leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, joined the party hours before the campaigning for the October 5 Haryana Assembly polls comes to an end at 6 pm. The Dalit leader's return to the Congress is likely to come as a boost for the party, which is looking to wrest power from the BJP after a decade. Tanwar, a former Haryana Congress president, shook hands with Gandhi
Progress in women's safety gets a thumbs up
If a voter's name is on the list but he or she do not possess a voter ID card, they can still cast their vote by presenting one of the 12 alternative identity documents prescribed by the ECI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the Congress stands for the "guarantee of corruption, casteism, communalism and nepotism", as he urged the people in Haryana to vote the ruling BJP to power for a third straight term. In a message on X on the last day of campaigning in Haryana before the assembly polls on October 5, Modi blasted the Congress for its alleged divisive and negative politics which, he said, the patriotic people of the state will never accept. "The Congress means a syndicate of fixers and son-in-law," he said in an apparent reference to controversial land deals involving Congress leader Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra when the party was in power during 2004-14 with Bhupinder Singh Hooda as the chief minister. The main goal of father-son politics is only self-interest, he said, clearly targeting Hooda and his MP son Deepender Singh Hooda. Modi also asserted that Congress leaders are involved in a factional fight. People know that the party can never ..
With voting scheduled for October 5, senior leaders from all major parties, including BJP, Congress, JJP, INLD, AAP, and BSP, are making a final push to rally support
In a setback to AAP ahead of Saturday's Haryana Assembly polls, the party's Nilokheri (reserve) seat candidate Amar Singh joined the Congress on Wednesday. After joining the party, Singh said only Congress can defeat the BJP government which has been "unjust to farmers, women, Dalits, and minorities". He joined the Congress here in presence of Pratap Singh Bajwa, Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, the party said in a statement. Bajwa formally inducted Singh into the party, it added. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is part of the INDIA bloc, but is contesting the Haryana elections on its own after the talks between the Arvind Kejriwal outfit and Congress last month to forge an alliance for the state polls did not materialise. The fresh setback to the AAP in Haryana comes days after its Faridabad candidate Pravesh Mehta joined the ruling BJP on September 28. Mehta had joined the BJP in Faridabad in the presence of Union Minister Krishan Pal Gurjar, who is the BJP MP from Farida
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh Wednesday accused the Congress of not fulfilling its poll promises as he asked the people of Haryana not to be misled by the opposition and asserted the upcoming state election was about choosing between "development and destruction." Asserting the BJP fulfils its promises made to the people, he said the Centre provided Rs 78,000 crore for Haryana's development while Rs 21,564 crore was given to the state when the grand old party was in power. The Congress had given Rs 1,158 crore to farmers while the BJP gave Rs 13,276 crore in 10 years, Singh said at a public meeting in Haryana's Yamunanagar. Under the BJP's rule in the last 10 years, the youths in Haryana were given jobs only based on merit, he said, adding, "I can assure you that the youths will continue to get jobs without 'kharchi-parchi' (corruption and favouritism) when BJP returns to power." "The Congress made several promises. Had they implemented them even partially during their 50-55 years
225 paramilitary companies and 60,000 security personnel have been deployed for the elections, said an official
Dera Sacha Sauda leader Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has been granted a 20-day parole just days before the Haryana assembly elections.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh requested parole for his father's death anniversary on October 5, the same day as voting in Haryana, and proposed staying in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh, if released
Dangi went to 'Meham Chaubeesi' for support. The khap ruled in favour of Dangi and conveyed its decision to Devi Lal, who rejected the organisation's validity. A political battle was on.
Just before Haryana's Assembly elections, a brick was thrown at a car in Dushyant Chautala's convoy, damaging its rear windshield. The incident happened when Chautala was campaigning in Jind