“Congress coming to power in Haryana”: Lalu Yadav’s son-in-law Chiranjeev Rao

Rewari (Haryana) [India] October 5 (ANI): Congress candidate from the Rewari Assembly seat Chiranjeev Rao on Saturday expressed confidence in the party’s victory in the Haryana assembly elections, stating that Congress is coming to power in Haryana.

“This is a festival of democracy and I feel that people are happy that they are going to be free from BJP after 10 years. The way people have come out to cast their votes shows that Congress is coming to power in Haryana…There is no groupism (ni Congress). CM will be decided by the high command,” he told ANI.

Rao is the son-in-law of Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and is married to Anushka, Lalu Prasad Yadav’s sixth daughter.

Rao, along with his wife Anushka Yadav and father, Congress leader Captain Ajay Singh Yadav and other members of his family, cast their vote at a polling station.

Meanwhile, former Haryana Minister and independent candidate from the Rania Assembly seat, Ranjit Singh Chautala, also cast his vote at a polling station in Sirsa.

Speaking to ANI after casting his vote, Chautala said Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), BJP and Haryana Lokhit Party (HLP) are in an alliance and if INLD gets any seats, they will support BJP only.

“There is an election of personalities here. On one side is Bhupinder Singh Hooda and on the other side is Nayab Saini and Manohar Lal Khattar. Bhupinder Singh Hooda is emerging as a bigger choice…I joined the BJP because of Prime Minister Modi. INLD, BJP and HLP are in alliance and if INLD will get any seat they will support BJP only,” he told ANI.

Over two crore people are eligible to vote in the Haryana Assembly elections today, which will decide whether the BJP will hold on to power for the third time or the Congress will return to power after a ten-year gap.

Voting in Haryana will be held from 7 am to 6 pm. 1,031 candidates are contesting in all 90 assembly constituencies, and 20,632 polling booths have been set up for voting. The results for the Haryana Assembly elections will be declared along with those of Jammu and Kashmir on October 8.

This election is a high-stakes battle as the BJP is eyeing a third straight term to power in the state, the Congress party is aiming to wrest back power riding on anti-incumbency, and issues of farmer protests and wrestler protests.

The key contesting parties in Haryana include the BJP, Congress, and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), as well as the pre-poll alliance between the Indian National Lok Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party (INLD-BSP) and the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP)-Azad Samaj Party (ASP).

A total of 1,031 candidates are contesting in all 90 assembly constituencies, and 20,632 polling booths have been set up for voting. The results for the Haryana Assembly elections will be declared along with those of Jammu and Kashmir on October 8.

In the 2019 Assembly elections, the BJP won 40 of the 90 seats, forming a coalition government with the JJP, which won 10 seats. The Congress secured 31 seats. However, JJP later broke out of the coalition.