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.
