Published 16:34 IST, October 21st 2019
Haryana Elections: Here are 5 seats which could go down to the wire
Due to the fact that multiple strong parties contest polls separately in Haryana, it is crucial to look at some of the seats where a close contest is expected.
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Haryana which has gone to the polls has 1.82 crore registered voters, out of which 1.7 lakh are service voters. The total strength of the state Assembly is 90, out of which 17 seats have been reserved for the SC category. The results will be declared on October 24. While Congress is looking forward to wresting its traditional stronghold from the BJP, parties such as the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) can also play an important role.
Here are 5 constituencies where a tough fight is expected:
Narnaund
Haryana Finance Minister and incumbent Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Captain Abhimanyu will face off against Congress’ Baljeet Sihag, Jassi Petwar from INLD and JJP’s Ram Kumar Gautam. The seat has a rather interesting history prior to 2014. For, Ram Gautam has won elections as a BJP as well as Congress candidate in 2005 and 2009 respectively. In the 2014 election, Abhimanyu won against Ram Singh Mor of the INLD.
Ellenabad
Promising to be yet another close contest for INLD’s Abhay Singh Chautala, Ellenabad will witness other candidates such as Bharat Singh Beniwal from Congress and Pawan Beniwal from the BJP. Chautala first won from this constituency 10 years ago by contesting the bypoll. Subsequently, he defeated BJP’s Pawan Beniwal in 2014. The INLD has not lost this seat since 2000.
Dadri
This will be ace wrestler Babita Phogat’s first electoral battle. The Dadri seat is defined by its narrow margins and the tendency to throw up surprise winners. For instance, independent candidate Satpal emerged victorious in 2009 with a margin of only 145 votes. INLD won the seat in the 2014 Assembly election. Phogat will square off against Nitin Jangu from INLD, Major Nirpender Sangwan from Congress. According to the Republic-Jan Ki Baat poll, she is slightly trailing behind.
Kaithal
Congress communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala suffered a humiliating defeat in the Jind by-elections held earlier this year. Despite this setback, the incumbent MLA from Kaithal is seeking re-election. While Surjewala was earlier an MLA in Narwana, he switched to this constituency in 2014. Anil Kumar from INLD and Leela Ram from the BJP are his principal opponents. He too is facing the possibility of losing the election.
Mahendragarh
Senior BJP leader and minister Ram Bilas Sharma has been locked in a one-to-one battle with Congress’ Rao Dan Singh since 2000. While the latter defeated Sharma in three consecutive elections, the margin of victory decreased with every successive victory. Finally, Sharma won in the 2014 election by securing 83,724 votes against Singh who received 49,233 votes. The other key candidate is INLD’s Rajendra Singh.
15:11 IST, October 21st 2019