Over 2-crore voters to seal fate of 223 candidates in Haryana today
The voting will be held from 7 am to 6 pm. Of the total 223 candidates contesting the election, 207 are men and 16 are women.
Over two crore registered voters of Haryana will decide the fate of 223 candidates on Saturday when the polling in the 10 Lok Sabha seats will be held amid tight security across 20,031 polling stations.
The voting will be held from 7 am to 6 pm. Of the total 223 candidates contesting the election, 207 are men and 16 are women.
While chief minister Nayab Singh Saini is contesting the Karnal assembly by-election, his predecessor and former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar is a BJP nominee from the Karnal Lok Sabha seat.
Saini, the sitting Kurukshetra MP and the state BJP chief, was sworn in as Haryana chief minister on March 12, replacing Khattar, who resigned from the assembly and vacated the Karnal assembly seat that necessitated the bypoll.
Among other heavyweights in the fray are Union ministers Rao Inderjit Singh and Krishan Pal Gurjar, Congress’ Deepender Singh Hooda and former Union minister Kumari Selja.
Also contesting the election are sitting MLAs, including INLD’s Abhay Singh Chautala (Kurukshetra), Congress’ Varun Chaudhary (Ambala), Rao Dan Singh (Bhiwani-Mahendergarh), BJP’s Mohan Lal Badoli (Sonepat) and JJP’s Naina Chautala (Hisar).
Haryana’s chief electoral officer Anurag Agarwal said that of the total 20,031 polling stations, 19,812 are permanent and 219 are auxiliary. While 5,470 polling stations have been set up in urban areas, 14,342 are set up in rural areas, he added.
The CEO said that apart from the returning officers, more than 96,000 officers and employees (except security forces) will be on duty in the polling stations. Besides this, flying squads, observers along with micro observers will be present at different polling stations.
“All voters should ensure their participation in the festival of democracy on May 25. Casting a vote is their right. The opportunity to vote in an election comes once every five years. We should not miss this chance but instead feel proud by strengthening democracy through voting,” Agarwal said, urging the youth that if they want to keep their voices strong, they should ensure their participation by exercising their franchise.
