About 2.03 crore voters will exercise their vote at 20,632 polling booths in all the districts of the State on Saturday. The fate of Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Vinesh Phogat of the Congress besides JJP’s Dushyant Chautala and 1,027 other candidates will be decided and polling will take place from 7.00 am to 6.00 pm.

A State Election officer confirmed that all the preparations related to elections have been completed with polling parties equipped with essential machinery and equipment dispatched to their respective stations.  All necessary arrangements have been made for polling, including webcasting at every booth. Over 30,000 police personnel and 225 paramilitary companies have been deployed.

The ruling BJP is eyeing a hat-trick of wins in the state while the Congress is hoping to make a comeback after a decade. Counting of votes will be held on October 8.

Haryana Chief Electoral Officer Pankaj Agarwal said that 2.03 crore voters, including 8,821 centurions, are eligible to exercise their franchise. A total of 1,031 candidates are contesting in all 90 assembly constituencies, including 101 women. Among these candidates, 464 are contesting as independents. DGP Shatrujeet Kapur said the Haryana Police is fully prepared to ensure free, fair and peaceful conduct of elections. Over 30,000 police personnel and 225 paramilitary companies have been deployed.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) are the main parties in the state. JJP leader Dushyant Chautala is jointly contesting with Azad Samaj Party. AAP is contesting the Haryana polls on its own after its talks with the Congress over a seat-share agreement broke down.

The Congress has left the Bhiwani assembly seat for its INDIA bloc partner CPI(M) while BJP is not contesting the Sirsa seat, from where Haryana Lokhit Party chief Gopal Kanda is seeking re-election. Most seats are likely to see a direct fight between BJP and the Congress.

Prominent among those in fray include Chief Minister Saini (Ladwa), Leader of Opposition Hooda (Garhi Sampla-Kiloi), INLD’s Abhay Singh Chautala (Ellenabad), JJP’s Dushyant Chautala (Uchana Kalan), BJP’s Anil Vij (Ambala Cantt), Capt Abhimanyu (Narnaund) and O P Dhankar (Badli), AAP’s Anurag Dhanda (Kalayat) and Congress’ Phogat (Julana).

From the Tosham seat, former MP Shruti Choudhry of BJP and Anirudh Chaudhary, both cousins, are contesting.

From Dabwali, Devi Lal’s grandson Aditya Devi Lal, an INLD candidate, is taking on JJP's Digvijay Singh Chautala, great grandson of the former deputy prime minister. BJP has fielded former chief minister late Bhajan Lal’s grandson Bhavya Bishnoi from Adampur segment in Hisar while its nominee from Ateli in Mahendragarh is Arti Rao, whose father Rao Inderjit Singh is a Union Minister.

Among the Independent candidates include Savitri Jindal (Hisar), Ranjit Chautala (Rania) and Chitra Sarwara (Ambala Cantt). Taking on Dushyant from Uchana is Congress’ Brijendra Singh, son of former Union minister Birender Singh. A few rebels from both the Congress and BJP have also entered the fray.

A day before polling, leaders meet party workers

 Meanwhile, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini along with his wife on Friday paid obeisance at the Mansa Devi Temple in Panchkula and performed 'havan yagya'. He also wished everyone on the occasion of Navratri festival.  Saini also appealed to voters to come out of their homes on October 5 to ensure 100 per cent polling for strengthening democracy and said the party workers took the party's vision and 'Sankalp patra' to each home. The chief minister, who is contesting from Ladwa Assembly segment, claimed that the BJP will form the government in the state for a third time with a big mandate. 

Former chief minister and Leader of Opposition in Haryana assembly Bhupinder Singh Hooda met his party workers in Rohtak. After following the gruelling schedule of poll campaigning by crisscrossing assembly constituencies, the senior Congress leader was at his residence where he met party and booth workers, one of his aides said.  Hooda is contesting from Garhi Sampla Kiloi Assembly seat.

Former Home minister and senior BJP leader Anil Vij was in the party office in Ambala and met party workers ahead of the polling day, his close aide said.

Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader Abhay Singh Chautala, who is contesting from Ellenabad seat, also met party workers.

Congress asks its booth-level teams to be vigilant during polling

The Congress on Friday reviewed poll preparations and asked its booth-level teams to ensure maximum polling and keep an eye on all the affairs during polling. The grand old party also deployed legal teams in every assembly seat to tackle any instances of poll code violations immediately.  Talking to reporters, a senior Congress leader said, “We are confident of forming the next government. We are concerned over the misuse of administrative machinery by the ruling BJP. Hence, we have reviewed the election preparedness and asked all the booth-level teams to focus on the mobilisation of voters on October 5. A heavy polling will go in our favour.”

“We have also deployed teams of lawyers in all the assembly seats to immediately tackle any instances of violation of the model poll code by any of the rival parties. These lawyers will immediately take up the cases with the district magistrates, who will act as chief election officers,” he said.  The party insiders further said the precautions for the voting day were being taken to take the strong campaign run over the past weeks to its logical conclusion.

Farmer activists intensified their efforts to rally opposition against ruling BJP

On the eve of the polls, farmer activists intensified their efforts to rally opposition against the ruling BJP, citing issues from the death of young farmer Shubhkaran to the use of force during the 2020-21 farm law protests and the February 2024 ‘Dilli Chalo’ agitation. Mandeep Nathwan, president of the Pagdi Sambhal Jatta Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, also issued a video message accusing the BJP of being responsible for the deaths of 750 farmers during the 2020-21 protests. He said the BJP passed laws designed to suppress agitators, urging farmers to vote against the ruling party.

Meanwhile, the Haryana BJP has downplayed the impact of the farmer protests, arguing that the issues have been resolved. Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini said the BJP has introduced policies beneficial to farmers, unlike the Congress, which he claimed left farmers without proper compensation for crop damage. Saini insisted that despite opposition propaganda, farmers recognise the positive steps taken by the BJP, such as direct payments for crop purchases. BJP spokesperson Sanjay Sharma dismissed the protests as politically driven, blaming Punjab’s AAP government, and highlighting the state’s commitment to buying 24 crops at MSP.