The campaign for the assembly elections to be held in Haryana on October 5 ended on Thursday evening. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is trying to overcome the anti-incumbency wave and come to power for the third consecutive time, while the Congress is hopeful of returning to power after a long gap of a decade. More than two crore voters are eligible to vote in the elections, of which 8,821 voters are above 100 years of age. Hours before the election campaign ended at 6 pm, major parties BJP, Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), INLD-BSP and JJP-Azad Samaj Party made efforts to attract voters by holding rallies and road shows.
On the last day of election campaign, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addressed a rally in Nuh. Last year there was violence in Nuh, when a VHP procession was attacked by a mob. Six people, including two home guards and a Maulvi, were killed in that attack. Rahul Gandhi said that Congress’s storm is blowing in Haryana and his party will form a government which will be for the poor and farmers. He said that ‘love shops’ would be opened in every corner of the state.
Chief Electoral Officer Pankaj Aggarwal said that voting for all 90 constituencies of Haryana will be held on October 5 from 7 am to 6 pm. According to officials, a total of 20,629 polling stations have been set up. Aggarwal said that no political party or candidate will be allowed to hold a public meeting or rally after 6 pm on Thursday.
Meanwhile, in an interesting development, senior BJP leader and former MP Ashok Tanwar joined Congress at Rahul Gandhi’s rally in Mahendragarh district on Thursday. Till some time before joining Congress, he was campaigning for the BJP candidate. The BJP emphasized the work and performance of a “double engine” government in its election campaign. Along with this, he targeted Congress on issues like reservation, corruption, appeasement and dynasty politics.
Issues related to women, youth, farmers and the poor are an important part of the election manifestos of both the main parties. On the last day of campaigning, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Bhupendra Singh Hooda, BJP’s Yogi Adityanath and Nayab Singh Saini, JJP’s Dushyant Chautala and INLD’s Abhay Singh Chautala were among the prominent leaders who campaigned for their respective parties.
The BJP’s campaign was led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and he addressed four rallies. In his speeches, Modi attacked the Congress on several issues and said that it had complicated every issue important for the country, including the Ram Mandir issue. Highlighting various steps taken by the BJP-led governments of Center and Haryana for the welfare of various sections including farmers, poor, Dalits and backward classes, Prime Minister Modi appealed to the voters to bring the BJP back to power for the accelerated development of the state. Appealed.
He attacked Congress, calling it the biggest anti-Dalit party in the country, whose only agenda is appeasement for votes. Modi claimed that corruption is in the veins of Congress. He alleged that it “has become a party of brokers and son-in-laws.” Modi and other BJP leaders like Amit Shah hit out at the Congress, saying that when the Congress ruled the state, it did not give even a single job in Haryana without “spend and slip”.
At the same time, targeting BJP, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the Modi government of attacking the Constitution and criticized the government on various issues including unemployment, Agniveer Yojana, farmers’ welfare. Rahul Gandhi also alleged that the government is working for a handful of rich people of the country. He said that the Constitution protects the poor and RSS people want to weaken the Constitution. Gandhi accused the BJP of spreading hatred on the basis of religion, language and caste in the country and said that his party will not let hatred triumph. He also raised the issues of unemployment and drug menace in Haryana.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge campaigned for a day and alleged that Modi was adept at “lying” and that the BJP had failed to fulfill promises made to voters in the past. Union Home Minister Amit Shah targeted Congress on corruption, casteism, nepotism and appeasement. He termed the party as anti-poor, anti-Dalit, anti-youth and anti-farmer. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra called on the people of Haryana to remove BJP from power, saying this is a fight against injustice, untruth and evil. AAP’s national convenor Arvind Kejriwal also campaigned for his party in Haryana.
After not having an alliance with Congress in Haryana, Kejriwal’s party is contesting the elections on its own. He said that the BJP government sent him to jail to stop his work and prove him dishonest.
Amidst the election excitement, Dera Sacha Sauda chief and rape case convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was given parole for 20 days.
The Congress has promised to give seven guarantees to the voters of the state including a legal guarantee for the Minimum Support Price (MSP), caste-based survey and a promise of Rs 2,000 per month to women if voted to power. At the same time, BJP has promised monthly assistance of Rs 2,100 for women, two lakh government jobs for the youth and guarantee of government jobs for the ‘Agniveers’ of the state.
There are a total of 1031 candidates in the electoral fray, of which 101 are women. Prominent candidates include Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini (Ladwa), Leader of Opposition Bhupendra Singh Hooda (Garhi Sampla-Kiloi), INLD’s Abhay Singh Chautala (Ellenabad), JJP’s Dushyant Chautala (Uchana Kalan), BJP’s Anil Vij (Ambala Cantt). and OP Dhankhar (Badli) and Vinesh Phogat (Julana) of Congress. Independent candidates include Savitri Jindal (Hisar), Ranjit Chautala (Rania) and Chitra Sarwara (Ambala Cantt).
