Introduction
Haryana, India’s North-Central state bordering Delhi and Punjab, is due to hold Vidhan Sabha (legislative assembly) elections on 5 October 2024. The results will be declared on October 8, along with those in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). Major political parties -including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Indian National Congress (INC), AAM Aadmi Party (AAP)- and some regional parties such as Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) have fielded their candidates. The BJP, INC, and AAP have nominated candidates for all 90 seats of the state assembly.
With a population of over 30 million, Haryana has around 20 million registered voters. It has an area of 44,212 km, and is divided into 22 districts and 7,356 villages. 2 Different ethnic groups in Haryana -primarily the Jats and non-Jat communities- have a significant vote share, which affects the outcome of the state elections. Jats comprises around 25 percent of the Haryana population, while the remaining 75 percent are non-Jat communities including the Dalit, Brahmin, Yadav, Gujjar, Baniya, and Rajput.[1] INC in all previous elections has sought support from the Jat community, while the BJP prefers to seek favour from the non-Jats such as the Brahmins, Rajputs, Punjabis, and Other Backward Classes (OBCs). Electorally, the Jats are decisive in 37 constituencies including Hisar and Rohtak. However, the OBCs are in majority and can influence the election results in the BJP’s favour. Likewise, there are 17 seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes (SCs), which constitute over 20.2 percent of the state population.[2]
