Chandigarh, Sep 17 (PTI) The high-stakes Haryana assembly election will witness a multi-cornered contest with the ruling BJP set to face the anti-incumbency test as well as a resurgent Congress as it looks to script a hat-trick in the state.
Among the 1,031 candidates in the fray for the October 5 polls are several kin of Haryana's three famous 'Lals' -- former chief ministers Bansi Lal, Devi Lal and Bhajan Lal -- with some even taking on each other. The entry of a few more from other prominent political families has made the electoral battle an interesting one.
Besides the BJP and the Congress, AAP has also fielded candidates for the polls. The Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) and Azad Samaj Party are contesting the election in alliance, as are the INLD and the BSP.
Prominent names in the fray are BJP candidates Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini from Kurukshetra's Ladwa and Anil Vij from Ambala Cantt, the Congress' Bhupinder Singh Hooda from Rohtak's Garhi Sampla-Kiloi and Vinesh Phogat from Julana, JJP's Dushyant Chautala from Uchana Kalan, INLD's Abhay Singh Chautala from Ellenabad and AAP's Anurag Dhanda from Kalayat.
According to the election department, over two crore voters are eligible to cast their votes in the state -- 1,07,75,957 men, 95,77,926 women and 467 transgender voters.
Among the kin of the three 'Lals', Congress candidate Anirudh Chaudhry, Bansi Lal's grandson and former treasurer of the BCCI, is contesting from Bhiwani's Tosham seat against his cousin and ex-MP Shruti Choudhry, fielded by the BJP.
From the Dabwali seat, Devi Lal's grandson Aditya Devi Lal, an INLD candidate, will take on the JJP's Digvijay Singh Chautala, the great-grandson of the former deputy prime minister.
In Hisar's Adampur constituency, Bhajan Lal's grandson Bhavya Bishnoi of the BJP is seeking re-election.
The Congress and the BJP are contesting on 89 seats each. The Haryana assembly has a strength of 90. While the Congress has left the Bhiwani seat for the CPI(M), the BJP pulled its candidate from Sirsa, leaving the seat for its ally Haryana Lokhit Party.
Both the BJP and the Congress faced rebellion on a few seats but several of these leaders withdrew from the race before the last date for nomination withdrawal.
The BJP is aiming for a hat-trick in the state but faces a tough challenge from a resurgent Congress looking to cash in on the anti-incumbency factor to return to power in Haryana after a decade.
To offset the Congress challenge, the BJP made a bold move in March by replacing Manohar Lal Khattar with Nayab Singh Saini as the chief minister ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Khattar is now a Union minister.
Saini is the BJP's chief ministerial face but senior party leader and six-time MLA Anil Vij has thrown his hat in the ring by declaring that he would stake claim for the post if the party won.
The BJP came to power in Haryana on its own for the first time in 2014.
Following the 2019 assembly polls, the Dushyant Chautala-led JJP joined hands with the BJP to form the government after the saffron party failed to get a clear majority.
However, the alliance ended in March after Saini replaced Khattar.
While the Congress is the main challenger to the BJP in the assembly polls, the other outfits and the Aam Aadmi Party make it a multi-cornered contest.
The split in the Jat vote among parties like the INLD and the JJP may not work to the Congress' advantage.
Congress leader Bhupinder Hooda, a two-time former chief minister, maintains that it is going to be direct fight.
"In Haryana, the direct contest is between the Congress and the BJP. All the parties like the INLD, JJP and HLP have been fielded only to cut the votes of the Congress. BJP has also given this responsibility to many Independents. The public needs to be cautious of such candidates," Hooda said.
On the other hand, Chief Minister Saini has maintained that the BJP will come to power for a third time and said people know that the Congress spreads "falsehood".
The BJP is looking to cash in on the "clean image" of Chief Minister Saini, on whom Prime Minister Narendra Modi lavished praises while during a poll rally in Kurukshetra recently.
The party claims to have provided "transparent administration" and jobs on merit and undertaken equitable development, as against the alleged favouritism in jobs, corruption and regional bias that prevailed earlier during the Congress regime.
The BJP has the added advantage of being in power at the Centre which allows it to pitch to voters its "double-engine capability".
However, being in power in the state for 10 years, the party will have to counter the anti-incumbency factor. To counteract this, the party has been highlighting the work done by its governments at the Centre and in the state over the past decade and welfare schemes brought for various sections of society, including farmers.
The Congress and other opposition parties have made farmers, unemployment and law and order major poll issues.
The Congress also ran a "Haryana Maange Hisab" campaign and attacked the BJP over these issues.
It also got a boost in the recent general election as it wrested five of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana from the BJP.
However, BJP leaders have also been raking up infighting within the Congress, dubbing it as a "divided house".
The JJP and INLD are facing an uphill task as both outfits faced a rout in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The INLD, led by former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, currently has just one member in the Haryana Assembly.
AAP leaders, meanwhile, are hopeful that the people of Haryana will give them a chance this time.