Haryana will vote on October 5 for its 90 assembly seats, with results to be declared on October 8. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) aims to create a record by winning a third consecutive term, while the Congress seeks to make a comeback, leveraging a decade of anti-incumbency sentiments and protests from farmers, wrestlers, and youth regarding the Agniveer scheme.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress-Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) alliance led in 46 assembly segments, and the Congress, though fighting alone this time, hopes to replicate that success in the assembly polls, buoyed by support from the influential Jat community.

A total of 1,031 candidates are contesting: 89 are from the Congress, 90 from the BJP, one from the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), 89 from the AAP, 86 from the Indian National Lok Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party (INLD-BSP) alliance, 79 from the Jannayak Janta Party-Azad Samaj Party (JJP-ASP) alliance, 120 from other smaller parties (120), and 477 as independents. The number of candidates contesting in 2019 was 1,169, averaging 13 per seat; this has come down to 11.5 per seat in 2024.

In 2024, 477 independents are contesting, likely due to a high number of rebels from both major parties - 19 from the BJP and 29 from the Congress. In the Ahirwal (Gurugram) and Braj (Faridabad) regions, both BJP strongholds, the number of candidates exceeds 11.5 per seat.

The highest number of candidates........

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