9.53% polling recorded in first 2 hours as voting underway in Haryana

Chandigarh: Polling for 90 Assembly seats in Haryana began Saturday morning amid tight security, with 9.53 poll percentage being recorded in the first two hours.Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker were among the early voters. Top leaders in the fray are CM Saini, Congress leaders Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Vinesh Phogat, and JJP's Dushyant Chautala.

In all, 1,027 candidates are contesting the election. The Congress is hoping to return to power after 10 years by dethroning the BJP. The voting, which began at 7 am, will conclude at 6 pm, while the counting of votes will be taken up on October 8. According to the Election Commission data, an overall poll percentage of 9.53 per cent was recorded till 9 am. In Jind, the poll percentage was recorded at 12.71 per cent, 11.10 in Karnal, 10.76 per cent in Rohtak, while in Gurgaon and Panchkula, it was 6.10 per cent and 4.08 per cent.

Saini, who is contesting from Ladwa in Kurukshetra, cast his vote in his native village, Mirza, in Ambala district's Naraingarh. Former Haryana chief minister M L Khattar cast his vote in Karnal, while Manu Bhaker along with her parents, cast her ballot in Goria village in Jhajjar district. Before he cast his vote, Saini prayed at Guru Ravidas temple and a gurdwara. Saini later told reporters, "The mood of the people of Haryana is clear, the BJP is going to form government for the third time with a big mandate."

Paris Olympic double-medallist Manu Bhaker appealed to the people, 

especially the younger ones, to come out and cast their votes. The 22-year-old athlete cast her vote for the first-ever time, her father Ram Kishan Bhaker said. Among other early voters who exercised their franchise included BJP's Kuldeep Bishnoi and JJP's Dushyant Chautala. 

Meanwhile, the Haryana Jan Sevak party nominee from Meham constituency Balraj Kundu accused former MLA Anand Singh Dangi of tearing his clothes and getting his assistant beaten up at a polling booth.

Kundu, who is the sitting MLA from the Meham assembly seat, alleged that Dangi was "rattled" after sensing the defeat of his son and Congress candidate Balram Dangi. In a video message, Kundu said he was at polling booth number 134 booth near the bus stand when Dangi tore his clothes and pushed him. "My PA has been beaten up," he further alleged. 

According to Haryana's Chief Electoral Officer Pankaj Agarwal, 2,03,54,350 voters, are eligible to exercise their franchise in the election. The



electorate includes 8,821 centenarians, 3,283 male and 5,538 female. Of the total candidates, 101 are women, while 464 are Independent. A total of 20,632 polling booths have been set up across the state, Agarwal said. Besides the BJP and the Congress, the key contesting parties are the Aam Aadmi Party and the INLD-BSP and JJP-Azad Samaj Party alliances. In the last Assembly polls in 2019, the BJP had won 40 seats, the Congress 31 and the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) 10. 

The Congress has left the Bhiwani seat for its INDIA bloc partner CPI(M), while the BJP has made way in Sirsa for Haryana Lokhit Party chief Gopal Kanda, who is seeking re-election. From Tosham, cousins former MP Shruti Choudhry of the BJP and Congress's Anirudh Chaudhary are pitted against each other. From Dabwali, Devi Lal's grandson Aditya Devi Lal, an INLD candidate, is taking on the JJP's Digvijay Singh Chautala, the great-grandson of the former deputy prime minister. 

The BJP has fielded former chief minister late Bhajan Lal's grandson Bhavya Bishnoi from Adampur in Hisar, while its nominee from Ateli in Mahendragarh is Arti Rao, whose father Rao Inderjit Singh is a Union minister. Savitri Jindal (Hisar), Ranjit Chautala (Rania) and Chitra Sarwara (Ambala Cantonment) are contesting as Independent. Taking on Dushyant Chautala from Uchana is the Congress's Brijendra Singh, son of former Union minister Birender Singh. A few rebels from both the Congress and the BJP are also in the fray. To ensure peaceful voting, 225 companies of Central Armed Police Forces have been deployed across the state, in addition to the deployment of the forces from Haryana Police. 

Of the total voters, 1,07,75,957 are men, 95,77,926 are women, and 467 belong to the third gender. There are 5,24,514 voters aged between 18 and 19 years, and 1,49,142 persons with disability, of whom 93,545 are male, 55,591 are female and six belong to the third gender. The total number of service voters is 1,09,217 -- 1,04,426 males and 4,791 females. The voter turnout recorded in the 2019 Assembly polls was around 68 per cent. In all, 115 polling stations will be managed by women, 114 by young government employees and 87 by persons with disability employees. In 2019, the BJP formed the government with the support of the JJP, while most of the Independent MLAs had also extended support to the saffron party. However, the JJP's post-poll tie-up with the BJP ended after the latter replaced Manohar Lal Khattar with Saini as the chief minister in March.