Haryana Assembly elections on Oct 1: A look at 5 key constituencies

In Lok Sabha elections, both the BJP and Congress won five of the ten seats in Haryana, indicating a shift in voter preferences. In 2019, the BJP had swept all 10 Lok Sabha seats

The 90-member Haryana Assembly is scheduled for elections on October 1, with votes to be counted on October 4. Jammu & Kashmir will also hold Assembly elections, marking the first such event since the abrogation of Article 370.

Both key elections will serve as a litmus test for the Bharatiya Janata Party, which had been humbled during the Lok Sabha elections conducted in June after not being able to secure a majority by itself.

Lok Sabha election result in Haryana

With the Jammu and Kashmir elections, the BJP aims to reinforce its image as a promoter of peace and stability in the region, hoping to boost its national image and lay some groundwork for the next Lok Sabha polls. In Haryana, the party faces a crucial challenge following the general elections, seeking to maintain its government and thwart off Congress’ efforts to oust it.

Interestingly, both the BJP and Congress won five of the ten seats in Haryana, indicating a shift in voter preferences. In 2019, the BJP had swept all 10 Lok Sabha seats. The Congress has been in Opposition in the state for the past 10 years.

Regional parties in Haryana

Then there are regional parties like the Jannayak Janta Party and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), seeking to preserve their identities and avoid complete marginalisation in state politics. For this, both the parties have announced alliance with the Chandra Shekhar Azad’s Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) and Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) respectively to secure dalit vote share, which will play out in the 17 reserved Assembly seats. The Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) was formed out of a split in the INLD in 2018.

For context, the JJP had emerged as the kingmaker in the 2019 Assembly elections in Haryana, helping the BJP to form a coalition government. However, this alliance collapsed before the Lok Sabha elections this year over seat-sharing disputes.

One interesting development about the Congress is that it has clarified MPs from both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will not be allowed to run in the Haryana assembly elections.

Aam Aadmi Party’s strategy

Then are parties like the Aam Aadmi Party, with its presence in Delhi and Punjab. The Arvind Kejriwal-led party has announced that it will contest on all seats independently, a shift from its strategy applied last time. In 2019, the AAP had contested 46 seats (and entered into a now-collapsed alliance with JJP) but faced crushing defeat by securing a vote share of just 0.48 per cent, less than Nota.

This time, the Aam Aadmi Party will focus on 28 key seats along the Haryana-Punjab border, which include Sirsa, Fatehabad, Kaithal, Ambala, Yamunanagar and Kurukshetra districts.

5 key seats in Haryana state Assembly elections

1) Garhi-Sampla -Kiloi assembly seat (Rohtak): Jat community, as 25 per cent of state population, are set to play a significant role in the polls. There are 17 Jat-dominated seats in central Haryana, known as the Jat heartland. These include Rohtak and the Sonipat districts and the region is known as the Jat-dominated Deswali belt in Haryana.

The BJP’s state headquarters in Haryana is located in Rohtak, a region traditionally dominated by the Congress party and the Hooda family. Bhupinder Hooda, a towering Jat figure, served as Haryana's CM from 2005 to 2014. However, the Congress lost control of Rohtak to the BJP in 2019 as Hooda’s son, Deepender Hooda failed to win the Lok Sabha polls from Rohtak by a margin of 7,500 votes. He made a strong comeback in 2024, winning the seat by a substantial margin of over 3.45 lakh votes. Here, the Garhi-Sampla -Kiloi assembly seat (held by Bhupinder Hooda) will be a closely watched contest.

2) Karnal: Besides Deswali belt, north Haryana districts such as Ambala, Kurukshetra and the Karnal are also significant for the polls as they witnessed the strong farmers’ movement against the now-repealed farm laws. During the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP managed to win Kurukshetra and Karnal but lost Ambala to the Congress. Kurukshetra has nine assembly constituencies.

Karnal, currently held by incumbent CM Nayab Singh Saini, is represented by Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in Lok Sabha and was held by him until he stepped up to contest the general elections this time. The seat has emerged as a BJP stronghold since 2014, through which Khattar shaped the BJP’s governance strategy in Haryana for over nine years as the CM. The BJP is yet to announce its candidates’ list for the state.

3) Ellenabad (Sirsa): Senior INLD leader and scion of the influential Chautala family, Abhay Singh Chautala, is the lone party MLA in the current legislative assembly. He unsuccessfully fought the Lok Sabha elections from Kurukshetra against BJP’s Naveen Jindal and has announced that he will contest from Ellenabad seat again in the coming polls.

4) Rewari: Dominated by the Yadav community, the seat is key to the politics of south Haryana and has been under dynastic family rule for decades. The seat is currently represented by Chirajeev Rao, whose father Captain Ajay Singh Yadav was a six-time MLA from the seat.

5) Gurugram: During Lok Sabha elections, BJP’s Rao Inderjit Singh won the polls. He is among the most prominent faces in the region known as Ahirwal belt, which also includes Mahendragarh, Rewari districts’ constituencies. Inderjit Singh is the son of Haryana’s second chief minister Rao Birender Singh and is also a symbol of dynasty politics. The party may give him a free hand to strategise the poll campaign.

The Gurugram Assembly seat is currently represented by BJP MLA Sudhir Kumar Singla. While the party is yet to announce its candidates for Haryana, its strategy will be focused on countering anti-incumbency and shrugging off Lok Sabha poll losses.

Some of the other key Assembly seats to watch out for in the Haryana elections are Panipat, Sonipat, Jhajjar, Bhiwani, Hisar, Nuh, and Faridabad.