THE high-octane campaign in Haryana for the October 5 Assembly polls came to an end Thursday evening as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hopes to buck anti-incumbency to retain power for a third consecutive term and the Congress eyes a comeback after a decade-long hiatus. In an interesting development, senior BJP leader and former MP Ashok Tanwar joined the Congress at Rahul Gandhi’s rally in Mahendragarh district Thursday.

 

S hortly before joining the Congress, the former Sirsa MP was campaigning for the BJP candidate in Safidon assembly constituency. More than two crore voters, including 8,821 centurions, are eligible to exercise their franchise in Haryana. Hours before the poll campaign ended at 6 pm, key contesting parties BJP, Congress, AAP, INLD-BSP and JJP-Azad Samaj Party made last ditch efforts to woo voters holding rallies and roadshows. The polling for all the 90 constituencies in Haryana will take place on October 5 from 7 am to 6 pm, Chief Electoral Officer Pankaj Agarwal said. A total of 20,629 polling booths have been set up for the elections, officials said. The BJP focused its election campaign on the works andperformance of the “doubleengine” Government, while ittargeted the Congress on reservation, corruption, appeasement and dynastic politics. During his campaigningwhich included a rally in Nuhthat had last year witnessedincidents of violence, Congressleader Rahul Gandhi accusedthe Modi Government of attacking the Constitution andalso slammed it over variousissues including unemployment, the Agniveer scheme and farmers’ welfare.