Haryana polls: Votes to be counted tomorrow; BJP confident, Congress hopeful

Political parties and leaders wait with bated breath as the counting day approaches in Haryana with the ruling BJP confident of retaining power for a third term and the Congress which is out of power for 10 years more than hopeful of making a comeback when results are announced on TuesdayOfficials said all preparations including security arrangements have been completed for the counting process which begins at 8 am on October 8A threetier security arrangements have been made at counting venues Haryanas Chief Electoral Officer Pankaj Agarwal told PTI on MondayThe elections in Haryana are the first major direct contest between the BJP and the Congress following the Lok Sabha polls and the result here would be used by the winner to build a narrative in their favour in other states where polls due over the next few monthsThe key parties in the fray are the BJP the Congress Aam Aadmi Party INLDBSP and JJPAzad Samaj Party However most seats are likely to see a direct fight between the BJP and the CongressJammu and Kashmir also voted alongside Haryana but most seats there have witnessed multicorner contests rather than a direct CongressBJP fightElections are due in Maharashtra Jharkhand and Delhi in a few monthsA total of 1031 candidates including 464 Independents and 101 women are in the fray on Haryanas 90 constituencies which voted in single phase on October 5Several exit polls have predicted a Congress victory in Haryana which recorded a voter turnout of 6790 per centRejecting the exit poll results Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini has claimed his party BJP will form the government for a third time with full majority on October 8He said when results are announced on October 8 the Congress will blame Electronic Voting MachinesOn the other hand Congress leader and former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda a frontrunner for the chief ministers post if his party wins exuded confidence of a comfortable majorityOn BJP leaders claiming that their party will return to power Hooda had earlier stated What else will BJP say They will come to know once results are out The INLDBSP alliance has also claimed that it will form the next government once results are declared while JJP leader Dushyant Chautala has exuded confidence that his alliance will get good numbersAam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal whose party contested Haryana polls on its own has been claiming that no government in Haryana can be formed without the support of his Aam Aadmi Party AAPThe ruling BJP has been saying that its return to office will be powered by its record on good governance transparent administration equitable development jobs on merit welfare initiatives for all sections including farmers poor and the weakHowever Congress and other opposition parties have dubbed the BJP government a failure and targeted it on issues related to farmers unemployment Agniveer inflation law and order and othersProminent among those in the fray are Chief Minister Saini Ladwa Leader of Opposition Hooda Garhi SamplaKiloi INLDs Abhay Chautala Ellenabad JJPs Dushyant Chautala Uchana Kalan BJPs Anil Vij Ambala Cantt Capt Abhimanyu Narnaund O P Dhankar Badli AAPs Anurag Dhanda Kalayat and Congress Vinesh Phogat JulanaFrom Tosham seat former MP Shruti Choudhry of BJP and Anirudh Chaudhary both cousins are contestingFrom Dabwali Devi Lals grandson Aditya Devi Lal an INLD candidate is taking on JJPs Digvijay Singh Chautala great grandson of the former deputy prime ministerThe BJP has fielded former chief minister late Bhajan Lals grandson Bhavya Bishnoi from the Adampur segment of Hisar while its nominee from Ateli in Mahendragarh is Arti Rao whose father Rao Inderjit Singh is a Union ministerAmong the Independents are Savitri Jindal Hisar Ranjit Chautala Rania and Chitra Sarwara Ambala CanttTaking on Dushyant from Uchana is Congress Brijendra Singh son of former Union minister Birender SinghA few rebels from both Congress and BJP have also entered the frayIn the outgoing Assembly the strength of ruling BJP is 41 including the Adampur seat won in 2022 bypoll the Congress has 28 MLAs the JJP 6 while Haryana Lokhit Party and Indian National Lok Dal have one member eachThere are four Independents while nine seats are vacantSeven of the nine seats fell vacant as their representatives resigned after switching sides while the Badshahpur seat fell vacant as Independent MLA Rakesh Daulatabad died in MayThe Mulana seat is lying vacant since Congress Varun Chaudhary fought parliamentary polls and got elected from AmbalaIn 2019 the BJP formed the government with the support of JJP while most Independents had also extended support However JJPs postpoll tieup with the BJP ended after the saffron party replaced Manohar Lal Khattar with Nayab Singh Saini as chief minister in March this yearThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and 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