Haryana polls: TikTok star & BJP candidate Sonali Phogat casts vote

Haryana BJP's candidate from Adampur and TikTok star Sonali Phogat exercised her franchise at a polling booth in the state on Monday.  After casting her vote, a beaming Phogat flashed her inked finger in front of the cameras. Phogat shot to fame with her TikTok videos and is contesting the elections against senior Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi, a three-time sitting legislator from the constituency and son of former Chief Minister late Bhajan Lal.

While Phogat asserted that the support of the BJP leaders and her fans will ensure her victory, the TikTok star-turned-politicians drew flak during an election campaign, wherein she asked people if they were from Pakistan when they did not chant 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' at her rally in the constituency on October 9. 

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"Pakistan se aaye ho kya? Pakistani ho kya? Agar Hindustan se aaye ho to Bharat Mata ki Jai bolo. (Have you come from Pakistan? Are you Pakistanis? If you are from India chant 'Bharat Mata ki Jai')," she told a few people in the crowd at the rally who remained silent after she asked the audience to raise the slogan. 

Turning to that section in the crowd again, on her right, the TikTok star said, "I feel ashamed that people like you too are Indians, who would not chant 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' for petty politics."

However, later during her speech, she promised to build a college in the area, which drew loud cheers and chants of 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' from the audience. Phogat, who is pitted against sitting Congress MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi, said she will defeat him like Smriti Irani ousted Rahul Gandhi from his stronghold Amethi. 

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Haryana elections 

Polling for 90 seats in Haryana began at 7 am on Monday and will continue till 6 pm in the evening. The electoral fate of 1169 candidates will be sealed in EVMs by the voters who will exercise their democratic franchise in the assembly elections.
In Haryana, 19,578 polling stations have been set up for citizens to cast their votes. The assembly polls will witness a multi-cornered contest among BJP, Congress, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and the recently formed Jannayak Janata Party (JJP). Votes will be counted on October 24. In the 2014 elections, BJP had won 47 seats and formed the government on its own strength while the Congress managed just 15 seats. The INLD finished second with 19 seats. 

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(With ANI inputs)