2024 Haryana Legislative Assembly election

Legislative Assembly elections were held in the Indian state of Haryana on 5 October 2024 to elect all 90 members of the Haryana Legislative Assembly.

The schedule of the election was announced by the Election Commission of India on 16 August 2024. The ballots were counted and the results were declared on 8 October 2024. The Bharatiya Janata Party won a majority with 48 seats and secured victory for the third consecutive time, becoming the first party in the state's history to achieve this feat. Although the popular vote total differed by less than one percentage point, the Congress managed to win only 37 seats.

The tenure of the 14th Haryana Assembly was slated to end on 3 November 2024. In the previous Assembly elections held in October 2019, BJP the emerged as the single largest party and formed a coalition government with Jannayak Janta Party. Before the elections, Nayab Singh Saini of the BJP was the incumbent Chief Minister.

Background

The tenure of the 14th Haryana Assembly was slated to end on 3 November 2024. The previous Assembly elections were held in October 2019, in which the Bharatiya Janata Party emerged as the single largest party. After the election, the BJP formed a coalition government with the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) with Manohar Lal Khattar becoming the Chief Minister and Dushyant Chautala as his deputy.

On 12 March 2024, Khattar resigned as the Chief Minister after the coalition between the BJP and JJP came to an end. Nayab Singh Saini of the BJP was sworn in as the new Chief Minister on the same day with the support of independents. After three independents withdrew their support to the BJP government in May 2024, Saini led a minority government.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections held earlier in the year, the BJP which had held all the seats following the 2019, retained five seats while the Indian National Congress won the remaining five seats.

Schedule

The schedule of the election was announced by the Election Commission of India on 16 August 2024. The election was scheduled to be held in a single phase on 1 October. On 31 August, the Election Commission announced that the elections would be held on 5 October and that the votes would be counted on 8 October.

Parties and alliances

The BJP contested in 89 seats. On 12 September, the Congress announced an alliance with the Communist Party of India (Marxist). In July 2024, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) announced an alliance for the assembly elections, with Abhay Singh Chautala as the chief ministerial face. In August 2024, the JJP announced an alliance with the Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) (ASP) for the elections.

Candidates

• The BJP released its first list of 67 candidates on 4 September followed by the second list of 21 candidates on 10 September and the third list of 3 candidates on 11 September.
• The Congress released its first list of 32 candidates on 6 September and the second list of nine candidates on 8 September. The party released its third list of 40 candidates on 11 September and the candidates for eight seats on 12 September.
• The BSP released its first list of four candidates on 27 August. The INLD released its first list of seven candidates on 1 September.
• The JJP-ASP alliance released its first list of 19 candidates on 4 September followed by a second list of 12 candidates on 9 September. The alliance announced candidates for 34 more seats on 11 September. The final lists of candidates contesting in 21 seats were released in three phases on 12 September.

Major issues

Farmer Protest and demands

The three farm laws by the BJP-led central government in 2020 have been a major point of contention with the farmers across various states. The farmers in Haryana also participated in the protests with the demand for the repeal of these laws, claiming that they adversely affect their crop sales and income was a prominent issue of that time. Another significant issue prior to the elections was the demand for a Minimum Support Price (MSP) for farmers. Farmer unions advocated the government to ensure that MSPs are legally mandated, arguing that it will provide a safety net for their produce and ensure fair prices. The demand arose from concerns that the farmers might face financial instability due to fluctuating market prices without such guarantees. The issue was part of broader discontent with the existent agricultural policies and became a key topic in the electoral debates.

Agnipath scheme

The Agnipath Scheme was a tour of duty style scheme introduced by the central government in June 2022, which proposed a four-year term recruitment into the Indian Army, after which 25% of them would continue their service in the army and rest would be dismissed. The scheme was seen as a move away from permanent recruitment and became a contentious issue in Haryana with concerns that it may lead to instability in employment for the soldiers. The state government introduced a quota for such relieved soldiers in certain state government jobs.

Unemployment

Unemployment was raised as a significant issue in the state as indicated by a survey by India Today. Opposition parties questioned the effectiveness of government policies in creating job opportunities for the youth, which made it a central debating topic in the elections.

Inflation

Rising prices of essential goods and services was also raised as a major election issue by the opposition parties. They claimed that the inflation has significantly impacted the cost of living in Haryana and questioned the government's ability to manage inflation and provide relief to affected citizens.

Wrestler protests

Haryana has a longstanding tradition in wrestling and sends the highest number of wrestlers who represent India at major international events. A group of wrestlers have been protesting against the earlier chief of Wrestling Federation of India BJP's Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who had sexual abuse charges filed against him. The wrestlers accused Singh of failing to provide them with safety and demanded justice against the same. For the Khelo India, which aims to promote sports at the grassroots level, the state was allocated only 3% of the total budget, leading to dissatisfaction and criticism from the sports community due to a perceived imbalance in the distribution of resources and support for athletes in the state.

Campaigns

Bharatiya Janata Party

The BJP focused its campaign on highlighting its record of merit-based job creation and infrastructure development, and allegations of corruption during the previous Congress rule. Narendra Modi addressed four rallies and called the Congress the most "dishonest and deceitful" party. The BJP had earlier reshuffled its leadership and limited the campaigning of former chief minister Khattar, who had faced opposition for his views. Saini, who was not part of the earlier government, became the chief minister few months before the election. He had implemented several populist measures including merit-based recruitment for new government jobs, distribution plots to families below the poverty line, free bus travel to the poor, and regularisation of unauthorized colonies. The party emphasised the schemes and also frequently highlighted his background as an OBC leader. Additionally, the BJP dropped a third of its sitting legislators to counter the anti-incumbency sentiment and fielded more than 20 new candidates.

Indian National Congress

In July, the Congress released a charge sheet criticising the BJP government on issues like unemployment, unfilled government positions, increased crime, and alleged mistreatment of farmers. On 15 July, it launched the Haryana Maange Hisab Abhiyan campaign, which was aimed at visiting all 90 Assembly constituencies, exposing the government failures and gathering suggestions from the public for its election manifesto. Former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and state Congress chief Udai Bhan announced a 'Rath Yatra' after 20 August as a part of the campaign.