Gurgaon, NCR
Haryana voters turned out to exercise their franchise and give a mandate for the 90 member state assembly.
Nearly 23 percent voting was recorded till 11AM. Exit polls will begin soon after voting comes to a close this evening.
The primary contest between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Opposition Congress is said to be headed for a nail-biting finish.
Once a Congress bastion, Haryana has voted favour for the BJP in the last two state elections in 2014, and 2019.
Observers say that the Congress losses in the state have been caused by anger among non-Jat voters in the state. Once the most prominent community in the state’s politics Jats constitute about 24 percent of the vote and hold sway in some 35 of the 90 seats.
The primary focus of this election is anger among Jats, who many say, will try to leverage this election to bounce back to political prominence.
Jat leaders say that the community has been sidelined by the BJP in the last ten years. The Congress campaign is largely focused on capitalising on this discontent, but the going may not be as easy as expected as there are other claimants for this vote as well.
Smaller regional players like the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and the Janata Jannayak Party (JJP) can alter equations in several constituencies.
The Congress campaign started out as favourites but a slight mishandling of the Kumari Selja episode may not have gone down with Dalit voters, who along with Jats could have ensured a Congress victory.
Former PCC president, Selja is the most prominent Dalit leader in the state and considered an icon by community members who constitute nearly 20 percent of the state.
Dalits believe Selja to be the architect of a Congress recovery in the state before she was upstaged by prominent Jat leader and former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
Prima facie non-Jat voters are likely to remain divided in their choices. The Yadav belt of Ahirwal—bastion of late Yadav leader Rao Birender Singh—is a case in point.
While the Yadavs of Haryana voted Congress for decades, they have since moved on in an attempt to assert their politics in the region.
Not surprisingly the BJP campaign has gained momentum as it tries to extract a third victory that has become increasingly probable as the election has progressed.
While there is no denying Jat discontent, possibilities of a latent Dalit exodus—from the Congress—may leave the election pretty even poised.
