Haryana Legislative Assembly election, 2014

Parties contending

Four major parties contested the election - the Indian National Congress (INC, incumbent), the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC). Others that contested the elections included candidates from the Bahujan Samaj Party, Communist Party of India, Communist Party (Marxist), Samajwadi Party, Shiromani Akali Dal (an alliance partner of BJP in neighbouring Punjab ), other regional parties and independents.

Caste and religion data

Forward caste

Dalits are 20% of total Haryana population of 2.5 crore. Out of 80 castes, 63 castes/communities have been notified either as a Scheduled Caste or Backward Class in Haryana.

Date

The Election Commission of India announced, on 12 September 2014, Haryana's Legislative Assembly election under Article 324 and 172(1) of the Constitution of India and Section 15 of Representation of the People Act, 1951. The announcement stated 90 assembly seats to be contested, of which 17 constituencies were reserved for Scheduled Castes candidates.

Election

Voting was held on 15 October and the result was announced four days later. Voter turnout for the Assembly election set a new state record with 76.54%. A total of 1,351 candidates, of which 116 were women, contested for the 90 seats (an average of 15 candidates per seat). This was the highest number of total and women candidates in Haryana assembly elections since its formation in 1966.

Voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) was used along with EVMs in 6 out of 90 assembly constituencies in Haryana-Thanesar, Karnal, Panipat city, Sonipat, Rohtak and Gurgaon.

Among other practices to ensure a fair election, photo electoral rolls and photo identification were mandatory during the election. Each polling booth was provided with multiple Awareness Observers as non-participating members to verify free and fair voting and access. Every polling station was also equipped with basic minimum facilities such as access to drinking water, toilet and a ramp for the disabled. The voters cast their vote at 16,244 polling booths. The poll was conducted using electronic voting machines.

Result

The BJP won a majority with 47 seats. With BJP's alliance partner Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which won 1 seat, the NDA alliance of BJP and SAD won 48 seats.

Government formation

The BJP was scheduled to meet on 21 October to choose a chief minister; a swearing-in ceremony was expected before Diwali on 23 October. The BJP parliamentary board deputed Venkaiah Naidu and Dinesh Sharma as observers for the meeting. Leading contenders for the post were Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh activist Manohar Lal Khattar, Haryana BJP president Ram Bilas Sharma, BJP spokesperson Abhimanyu, MLA Anil Vij and BJP Kisan cell leader O.P. Dhankar. Khattar was speculated to be leading the race. Khattar was then chosen to head the new government and was sworn in on 26 October.