Congress candidate Anirudh Chaudhry cast vote; exudes confidence in party victory in Haryana polls

Bhiwani (Haryana) [India], October 5 (ANI): Congress candidate Anirudh Chaudhry cast his vote from the Tosham seat for the Haryana assembly elections on Saturday morning and exuded confidence in the party’s victory, saying that the people of the state have made up their minds to bring Congress to power.

Speaking to ANI about the polls, Anirudh Chaudhary said, “I will cast my vote and then inspect the polling station. The environment is very good and people have made up their minds to bring the Congress party to power. In the Tosham seat also, Congress is winning.”

The Congress candidate cast his vote at polling station no. 108 of Bhiwani Assembly seat this morning.

BJP has fielded Shruti Chaudhry, and AAP has fielded Daljeet Singh from the Tosham Assembly seat.

Meanwhile, BJP candidate from Tosham seat, Shruti Choudhry, said, “Today is a very big day. The voters will decide the future through their votes. The people here are very intelligent and they know which party has worked for every section here. There has been a lot of development in villages in every way. A lot of work has been done and I will take that forward. Congress is nowhere today; there is no organisation.”

The election in Haryana’s Tosham assembly seat has turned into a direct contest between two branches of former CM Bansi Lal’s political family, with Congress fielding Anirudh Chaudhary against his cousin, BJP candidate Shruti Choudhry, a matchup that could lead to divided loyalties among voters.

Both Anirudh and Shruti are the grandkids of Bansi Lal. So far, Bansi Lal’s political lineage has helped Shruti’s mother, Kiran Choudhry, retain the Tosham seat in the past few terms.

The constituency has been a stronghold of the family as four-time CM Bansi Lal was elected from Tosham on six occasions, his younger son, Surender Singh, twice and Surender’s wife, Kiran Choudhry, four times.

Haryana’s iconic political leaders–Bhajan Lal, Bansi Lal, and Devi Lal ruled the state for nearly three decades. These villages are located in Fatehabad, Bhiwani, and Sirsa. Bhajan Lal, the longest-serving Chief Minister of Haryana with 12 years in power.

With Anirudh entering the race, the contest in Tosham transcends mere political ideology to encompass familial legacy and connections.

This marks the second time that members of Bansi Lal’s next generation are competing against each other.

In 1998, Shruti’s father, Surender Singh, won against Anirudh’s father, Ranbir Singh Mahendra, for the Bhiwani Lok Sabha seat. At that time, Surender was running for the Haryana Vikas Party, which Bansi Lal founded, while Ranbir was on a Congress ticket.

“There are a lot of candidates who make several promises during elections but fail to fulfil them. Today the people of Haryana will have to decide that on one side there is a BJP government that has done historic work for the farmers, promoted women, and given jobs to the youth and on the other side there are people who are involved in corruption and who are experts in lying,” said Kiran Choudhry, while taking a jibe at the Congress party.

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.

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).Voting in Haryana will be held from 7 am to 6 pm.

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.