Chandigarh, 5 Oct

Over 49 per cent polling was recorded till 3pm in the Haryana assembly election on Saturday in which the ruling BJP is eyeing a third term while the Congress seeks a comeback after a decade.

Chief Electoral Officer Pankaj Agarwal said voting was going on peacefully. He said voting began at 1pm and a poll percentage of 36.69 was recorded by 1pm.

Among the top names in the fray are Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, the BJP's Anil Vij and O P Dhankar, the Congress' Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Vinesh Phogat, the INLD's Abhay Singh Chautala and the JJP's Dushyant Chautala.

The BJP, Congress, the INLD-BSP and the JJP-Azad Samaj Party alliances and the Aam Aadmi Party are the key outfits contesting the polls. The Congress has left the Bhiwani seat for its INDIA bloc partner CPI(M), while the BJP has made way in Sirsa for Haryana Lokhit Party chief Gopal Kanda, who is seeking re-election.

A total of 1,031 candidates are in the fray, including 101 women and 464 Independent nominees. Voting will conclude at 6pm and counting will be taken up on 8 October.

While voting was picking up pace in many districts, it was comparatively slow in Panchkula and Gurugram districts. Till 1 pm, Ambala recorded a poll percentage of 39.47, Bhiwani 38.27, Charkhi Dadri 29.62, Faridabad 31.71, Fatehabad 40, Hisar 38.34, Jhajjar 36.93, Jind 41.93, Kaithal 38.18, Karnal 39.74, Kurukshetra 41.05, Mahendragarh 38.20, Mewat (Nuh) 42.64, Palwal 41.85, Panipat 38.24, Rewari 35.10, Rohtak 36.19, Sirsa 34.78, Sonipat 33.64 and Yamunanagar 42.08. In Panchkula, the polling percentage was 25.89, while it was 27.70 in Gurugram.

Saini, who is contesting from Ladwa in Kurukshetra, cast his vote in his native village Mirza in Ambala district's Naraingarh.

He attacked the Congress, saying it has been regularly insulting the Dalit community and has never brought any scheme for its upliftment. "The Congress has a dual face, they talk of honesty but they indulge in loot," he alleged. "The mood of the people of Haryana is clear, the BJP is going to form the government for the third time with a big mandate," Saini said.

Union Minister and former Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar cast his vote in Karnal, while Manu Bhaker and her parents cast their ballots in Jhajjar district's Goria village. Khattar claimed the Congress is racked with infighting. "There is a pall of gloom in the Congress' camp. It's chaotic there," he added.

He added that the BJP will improve on its 2014 performance and win more than 50 seats. The party had won 47 of the 90 assembly seats that year.

Congress stalwarts Hooda, Kumari Selja and Randeep Singh Surjewala, who also exercised their right to vote, said their party would form the next government. The Congress high command will take the call on the next chief minister after the party wins the polls, they added. Hooda, who is seeking re-election from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi in Rohtak district, said, "BJP ja rahi hai, Congress aa rahi hai (BJP is on its way out, the Congress is coming back to power)."

BJP Kurukshetra MP Naveen Jindal went to cast his vote on horseback. "Riding a horse is considered auspicious and people ride horses while going to attend weddings. That is why I came on a horse for this auspicious work," he said.

A software engineer based in the US, Rashika Gupta said she has returned home to exercise her franchise. "I came here to vote for the development of Kaithal," she told PTI.

Sunil Kumar, a groom from Kurukshetra district, went to cast his vote before tying the knot. "I want to give the message to all that voting is very important. Nobody should waste their vote," he said.

Paris Olympic double-medallist Bhaker appealed to the people, especially the younger ones, to come out and cast their votes.

Congress candidate and Olympic wrestler Phogat urged people to recognise their power and exercise their franchise as "today is the day of change". She is contesting from the Julana assembly constituency in Jind district.

Wrestler and Congress leader Bajrang Punia said there is a Congress wave in Haryana and claimed that the party would win between 60 to 70 seats.

Among other early voters were Nayab Saini, Khattar, the BJP's Kuldeep Bishnoi and his family and the JJP's Dushyant Chautala and his family. AAP Haryana unit senior vice-president Anurag Dhanda cast his vote in Kalayat, the constituency he is contesting from. Haryana Jan Sevak Party nominee from the Meham constituency Balraj Kundu accused former MLA Anand Singh Dangi of assaulting him and his assistant at a polling booth.

In Nuh district, there were reports of a scuffle among supporters of the Congress' sitting MLA from Punhana and Independent candidate Rahish Khan. In Hisar, senior Congress leader Selja said people of Haryana have been waiting for the assembly election to change the current dispensation in the state and bring her party to power.

The INLD's Abhay Chautala, who cast his vote in Sirsa district, said his party's alliance will form the government. "Neither the Congress nor the BJP will win a majority. INLD-BSP will come to power," he added.

JJP leader Dushyant Chautala, whose party is contesting the polls in alliance with the Azad Samaj Party, said he wanted to appeal to the people of Haryana to ensure that their votes decide the future of the state.

There are more than 2.03 crore eligible voters in the state and 20,632 polling booths have been set up.

The voter turnout recorded in the 2019 Assembly polls was around 68 per cent.