Haryana Assembly Election 2019: The votes will be counted on October 24.
The Haryana assembly election will be held in a single phase today. Battles lines have been drawn with 1,169 candidates contesting the polls for the 90 assembly seats in the state. In Haryana, the main contest is between the ruling BJP and the Congress. The BJP set a target of winning 75 seats for itself, riding on the government's move to end special status for Jammu and Kashmir, and the Assam citizens' list.
The state has 19,578 polling stations, which will use 27,611 VVPATs or paper trail machines.
Out of the 1,169 candidates in Haryana, 1,064 are men and 104 are women. One candidate is a transgender.
Some of the key candidates are Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar of the BJP who is contesting from Karnal. He won the seat by 63,000 votes in the 2014 assembly election. He is a first-time BJP MLA and became the state's first non-Jat Chief Minister in 18 years.
The BJP is also banking on the star power of wresting champions Babita Phogat and Yogeshwar Dutt. Ms Phogat, 29, a three-time Commonwealth gold and silver medallist has been given the Dari assembly seat and and Mr Dutt the Baroda seat in Sonipat. Former hockey captain Sandeep Singh is the BJP candidate from Pehowa in Kurukshetra.
Former actor and TikTok star Sonali Phogat, 40, is challenging Congress candidate Kuldeep Bishnoi on a BJP ticket in his family bastion Adampur.
Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, 72, is the face of the Congress in Haryana. He is seeking re-election for the third time from his home constituency Garhi Sampla-Kiloi in Rohtak district. Thirteen candidates are contesting from this Jat-dominated seat, with over two lakh voters in the constituency. The BJP is fielding Satish Nandal to take on the two-time Chief Minister.
Among other prominent opposition candidates include Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala, Kiran Choudhary and Kuldeep Bishnoi, who are seeking re-election from Kaithal, Tosham and Adampur, respectively. Mr Bishnoi is the son of former Haryana Chief Minister and nine-time MLA Bhajan Lal.
OP Chautala's Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) as well as its offshoot Dushyant Chautala's Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) are also trying to dent the votes of the BJP and the Congress.
Other players in the poll ring include Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Swaraj India party.
The Hansi assembly seat in Haryana has the maximum candidates, with 25 people contesting, while the Ambala Cantonment and Shahbad have just six candidates each.
Narnaul is the smallest constituency with just 1.44 lakh registered voters Badshahpur is the largest seat with 3.96 voters.
The results of the Haryana election will be declared on October 24.