Regional parties may split BJP votes

CHANDIGARH: The deadline for filing nominations for the October 21 assembly elections in Haryana ended on Friday, and 451 candidates across 10 main parties, including about 1120 independents, have filed nominations for the 90 seats on offer.

Although most experts and analysts expect the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the state to retain power, they also point to the presence of spoilers and votesplitters who could throw up surprises in some constituencies. The counting of votes will take place on October 24.

The elections were announced on September 21, giving the shortest ever campaign window to political parties in Haryana.

In the fray are the BJP, led by CM Manohar Lal Khattar, the Congress, the Indian National Lok Dal, new entrant Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Loktantra Suraksha Party (LSP) and the Swaraj India Party (SIP).

Analysts say that while the Congress and the INLD are struggling to get their acts together, it is the presence of the JJP, LSP, AAP, SIP, and BSP, a veritable cornucopia of initials, that has made the context interesting, with some deep-pocketed candidates from these having the potential to at least queer the pitch for strong candidates by eating into their vote bank.

According to political analyst Ramji Lal, some smaller parties can’t be ignored as they are plugged into local caste- and community-networks.

In the Lok Sabha polls in the state, the BJP won all 10 seats. It had a vote share of 58%, while Congress won eted 28.45% of the vote and the INLD, a mere 1.90%.