"BJP Ready To Welcome Me Because...": Congress' Kumari Selja As Haryana Votes Today

As the polling for 90 assembly constituencies in Haryana began today, Congress MP Kumari Selja said that the BJP is ready to welcome her because they are already "very weak".

Speaking to media persons after casting her vote at a polling booth in Hisar, Ms Selja said, "Today's fight will change the fate of Haryana. Although this is a one-sided contest... BJP is ready to welcome me because they are already very weak. They will do anything to have strong leaders with them... We will win all 90 seats."

When asked about the speculations of a rift within Congress in the state, she said, "At the end of the day, our party high command makes decisions."

Earlier on Friday, in an interview with ANI, she said she was a senior leader with enough weight to be considered a front-runner for the top post.

"See, that only high command will have to answer, they will only decide. There are a few people who would be in the consideration zone, and I think Selja would be there. Seniority mein, kaam mein, in sab cheezon mein nam aur politics aur ye political decisions ye toh high command dekhega (the high command would look at the seniority, work done, and everything else. These political decisions would be taken by high command," Ms Selja told ANI.

"Toh aise mein Selja ko high command nazar andaz toh nahi karega (So the Party high command can't ignore Selja)," she added

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.

The Haryana assembly 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 started at 7 am and will conclude at 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.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)