Haryana Assembly Polls: 32 key constituencies to watch as AAP and new alliances shape the race

About a third of the assembly constituencies, which witnessed close contests in 2019, could hold the key to the upcoming state polls in Haryana.

With the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) planning to contest all seats, after failing to seal a seat-sharing deal with the Congress, amid new electoral alliances in the poll-bound state, 32 of the 90 assembly seats, which were decided by a margin of less than 10,000 votes in the previous polls, assume critical significance ahead of the October 5 election.

Meanwhile, former BJP ally Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) has tied up with the Chandrashekhar Azad-led Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) and the INLD has forged an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). This could result in further fragmentation of the opposition vote and an advantage to the BJP, which won 15 of the 32 seats in the 2019 polls.

Presence of AAP

In 2019, the AAP had contested 18 of the 32 seats and played the spoilsport. The Sirsa assembly seat, which saw the lowest victory margin of 602 votes, was won by the Haryana Lokhit Party's Gopal Kanda, with the BJP finishing third and the Congress fourth. The AAP polled more votes than the victory margin. The Badkhal seat in Faridabad district was won by the BJP by 2,545 votes, with the AAP finishing a close third to the Congress candidate, polling more votes than the victory margin. In the Faridabad NIT seat, which was won by the Congress by 3,242 votes, the AAP polled the same number of votes as the victory margin.

The Congress had initiated alliance talks with the AAP to prevent any fragmentation of the anti-BJP vote. Of the 32 closely contested seats, the AAP has already declared candidates on 18 seats - including Kalayat, Indri, Assandh, Ratia (SC), Barwala and Rohtak.

Wooing Scheduled Castes

Haryana has about 19.35% Scheduled Caste (SC) population and 17 reserved assembly seats. In a state with formidable Jat leaders across parties, this segment of voters is being actively wooed. The JJP-ASP alliance and INLD-BSP alliance could mean that the Jats and SCs, two communities that traditionally vote for the Congress, could have more options to vote for. Six of the 32 closely contested seats are reserved segments and, in 2019, saw all parties, including the JJP, BSP and AAP, fielding their candidates.

Haryana witnessed a close contest in 2019, with the BJP winning 40 seats and falling short of the majority mark of 45. The Congress won 31 seats. Dushyant Chautala's JJP gave the crucial support of 10 MLAs to the BJP and enabled the party to come to power a second time. However, this time, the BJP is battling a decade of anti-incumbency and bitter in-fighting.