The prospects of Congress in the 2024 Haryana Assembly elections have become a topic of discussion. In both 2009 and 2019, Haryana’s voters delivered fractured mandates, with Congress and BJP winning 40 seats each. The halfway mark stands at 46 seats. With less than two weeks until the elections, both major parties have released their manifestos and deployed star campaigners to the ground.
Congress, buoyed by its recent performance in the 2024 general elections, is eager to make a comeback after being out of power for a decade. On the other hand, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), battling 10 years of anti-incumbency and farmer/wrestler/Agniveer protests, hopes that the presence of ‘Others’ will undermine Congress’s chances.
According to the Election Commission, 1,051 candidates are contesting in 2024 across the 90 seats in Haryana. On average, around seven Independents and candidates from smaller parties are also in the fray for each seat. In previous elections, smaller parties and Independents emerged as potential kingmakers in the event of a hung assembly.
In 2009, a total of 1,222 candidates contested; this increased to 1,351 in 2014 but declined to 1,169 in 2019. The influence of smaller parties was evident in the last elections, where they secured 15 seats. These parties may continue to play a crucial role in shaping the outcomes in the upcoming elections.
This time, the presence of ‘Others’ adds complexity to the electoral landscape. These parties are strategizing to attract Jat and Dalit votes. However, Congress believes that this time the battle is directly with the BJP, and ‘Others’ may not significantly dent its chances.
It will be interesting to see whether ‘Others’ can once again lead to a hung assembly in the 2024 elections or if the political landscape will shift towards a more definitive outcome.
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