Voting begins for 10 LS seats in Haryana, Chandigarh

Polling commenced this morning for the 10 Lok Sabha constituencies in Haryana and the lone seat in Chandigarh Union Territory amidst tight security arrangements.

The key candidates amongst a total of 230, including 11 women, includes Haryana industrialist Naveen Jindal, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda's son Deepender, Avtar Singh Bhadana (all three of Congress) and former Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh (BJP).

17 candidates are in fray in Chandigarh including former Railway Minister Pawan Bansal (Congress) and three women nominees Kirron Kher (BJP), Gul Panang (AAP) and Jannat Jahan (BSP) whose fate would be sealed by about six lakh voters today.

Haryana has about 1.59 Crs voters, including 74 lakh women for whom arrangement for polling have been made at 16,240 polling stations, about 11,700 in rural areas.

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Shrikant Walgad said that about 50,000 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are being used in the State which include 18,000 control units and about 32,000 ballot units.

He said that maximum number of 41 candidates are contesting from Hisar Parliamentary Constituency whereas the least number of 14 candidates each are contesting from Ambala and Rohtak Parliamentary Constituencies.

Walgad said that the candidates include eight of BJP, 10 of BSP, two of CPI, three of CPM, 10 each of INC and INLD, two of HJC (BL), 64 of other Registered Political Parties and 121 Independent Candidates.

Haryana DGP S N Vashisht said that 74 Companies of Central Para Military Forces (CPMF) comprising of personnel from CRPF including women battalion, BSF, ITBP and Armed Police of Gujarat, J & K and Rajasthan, 45,000 personnel of Haryana Police and 20,000 Home Guards have been deployed for smooth polling.

He said that seven companies of BSF would remain in Haryana  after the polling to ensure safety of the EVMs till counting on May 16.

The DGP said that the border with neighbouring states, including Rajasthan, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and Uttar Pradesh have been sealed. Besides 350 Nakas (security check points) have also been set up within the state, he added.

The 10 Lok Sabha seats witness four cornered contests between the candidates of ruling Congress, BJP-HJC BL combine, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and new entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

In Haryana Congress's Naveen Jindal, Arvind Sharma and Avtar Singh Bhadana are seeking third term from Kurukshetra, Karnal and Faridabad respectively.

Congress nominee of 2009 general election Rao Inderjit Singh is also trying to enter the Lok Sabha for the third successive term, but this time as a nominee of the saffron party.
Three Congress nominees Deepender Hooda (Rohtak), Shruti Chaudhary (Bhiwani Mahendargarh) and Ashok Tanwar (Sirsa) and HJC-BL Chief Kuldeep Bishnoi are attempting to enter the Lok Sabha for the second successive term.

From Sonipat, Congress has fielded its Gohana MLA Jagbir Singh Malik after party's sitting MP Jitender Malik opted out of the race.

BJP has fielded former MP R L Kataria from Ambala (SC) and Aam Aadmi Party's Yogendra Yadav is among those in fray from Gurgaon.

Of the 10 Lok Sabha seats, at present Congress has nine MPs while Haryana Janhit Congress has one MP from the Hissar constituency.