Haryana saw a voter turnout of 36.69% across its 90 assembly constituencies by 1 PM on Saturday, as reported by the Election Commission. Voting for the Assembly elections began at 7 AM and is set to continue until 6 PM, with a total of 1,031 candidates contesting the polls.
Mewat led the state with the highest voter turnout of 42.64%, followed by Yamunanagar at 42.08%, Jind at 41.93%, and Palwal with 41.85%. Other districts such as Ambala recorded 39.47%, Bhiwani 38.27%, Fatehabad 40%, and Karnal 39.74%. Rohtak and Sonipat saw lower turnouts of 36.19% and 33.64%, respectively. Panchkula registered the lowest turnout so far, with only 25.89% of voters casting their ballots by 1 PM.
Haryana’s Chief Electoral Officer, Pankaj Agarwal, said that over 2 crore voters, including 1.07 crore males, 95.77 lakh females, and 467 third-gender voters, are eligible to vote in this election. A total of 20,632 polling booths have been established to facilitate the voting process.
To ensure smooth conduct, 29,462 police personnel, 21,196 home guards, and 10,403 Special Police Officers (SPO) have been deployed across the state for security and monitoring.
Laxman Singh Yadav, the BJP candidate from Rewari, expressed confidence in his party’s chances, stating that the BJP is poised to secure a majority and form the government for the third consecutive term. “It’s the people who are backing us. They appreciate the system we have built in Haryana,” Yadav said.
The results of the Haryana Assembly elections will be declared on October 8, alongside those of Jammu and Kashmir.
In the 2019 elections, the BJP secured 40 seats but had to form a coalition government with the JJP, which won 10 seats. Congress secured 31 seats in the last election, while the JJP has since parted ways with the BJP.
(Inputs from ANI)