2024 Haryana Legislative Assembly election

2024 Haryana Legislative Assembly election

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← outgoing members
All 90 seats in the Haryana Legislative Assembly 46 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	67.90% ( 0.30%)
Majority party Minority party   Leader Nayab Singh Saini Bhupinder Singh Hooda Party BJP INC Alliance NDA INDIA Leader since 2024 2005 Leader's seat Ladwa (won) Garhi Sampla-Kiloi (won) Last election 36.49%, 40 seats 28.08%, 31 seats Seats won 48 37 Seat change 8 6 Popular vote 55,48,800 54,30,602 Percentage 39.94% 39.09% Swing 3.45% 11.01%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Abhay Singh Chautala Dushyant Chautala Party INLD JJP Alliance INLD+ JJP+ Leader since 2014 2018 Leader's seat Ellenabad (lost) Uchana Kalan (lost) Last election 2.44%, 1 seats 14.8%, 10 seats Seats won 2 0 Seat change 1 10 Popular vote 5,75,192 1,25,022 Percentage 4.14% 0.90% Swing 1.70% 13.90%
Seatwise Result Map of the election
Structure of the Haryana Legislative Assembly after the election
Chief Minister before election Nayab Singh Saini BJP Chief Minister after election Nayab Singh Saini BJP

The 2024 Haryana Legislative Assembly elections were held in 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. Although the majority of exit polls predicted a landslide victory for the Indian National Congress-led alliance, 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.

The tenure of the 14th Haryana Assembly was slated to end on 3 November 2024.^[1] 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.^[2]

On 12 March 2024, Khattar resigned as the Chief Minister after the coalition between the BJP and JJP came to an end.^[3] Nayab Singh Saini of the BJP was sworn in as the new Chief Minister on the same day with the support of independents.^[4] After three independents withdrew their support to the BJP government in May 2024, Saini led a minority government.^[5][6]

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.^[7]

The schedule of the election was announced by the Election Commission of India on 16 August 2024.^[8] The election was scheduled to be held in a single phase on 1 October.^[9] 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.^[10][11]

The BJP contested in 89 seats.^[12] On 12 September, the Congress announced an alliance with the Communist Party of India (Marxist).^[13][14] 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.^[15][16] In August 2024, the JJP announced an alliance with the Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) (ASP) for the elections.^[17][18]

Alliances^[12]

Alliance	Party		Symbol	Leader	Seats contested	Total seats
National Democratic Alliance		Bharatiya Janata Party		Nayab Singh Saini	89
Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance		Indian National Congress		Bhupinder Singh Hooda	89	90
		Communist Party of India (Marxist)		Surendra Singh[19]	1
INLD-BSP Alliance		Indian National Lok Dal		Abhay Singh Chautala	51	86
		Bahujan Samaj Party		Rajbir Sorkhi[20]	35
JJP-ASP Alliance		Jannayak Janata Party		Dushyant Chautala	66	78
		Azad Samaj Party		Chandrashekhar Azad	12
Others		Aam Aadmi Party		Sushil Gupta[21]	88
		Socialist Unity Centre of India		Provash Ghosh	8
		Haryana Lokhit Party		Gopal Kanda	4
		Right to Recall Party		Rahul Chimanbhai Mehta
		Communist Party of India		Dariyav Singh Kashyap[22]	2
		Nationalist Congress Party		Ranbir	1
		Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar)		Virender Verma
		Bahujan Mukti Party		Pravendra Pratap

• 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.^[23][24][25]
• The Congress released its first list of 32 candidates on 6 September and the second list of nine candidates on 8 September.^[26][27][28] The party released its third list of 40 candidates on 11 September and the candidates for eight seats on 12 September.^{[29][30][31][32]}
• The BSP released its first list of four candidates on 27 August.^[33] The INLD released its first list of seven candidates on 1 September.^[34]
• 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.^[35][36] The alliance announced candidates for 34 more seats on 11 September.^[37][38] The final lists of candidates contesting in 21 seats were released in three phases on 12 September.^[39][40][41]

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.^[46][47] 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.^[48]

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.^[49] The state government introduced a quota for such relieved soldiers in certain state government jobs.^[50]

Unemployment was raised as a significant issue in the state as indicated by a survey by India Today.^[51] 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.^[52][53]

Rising prices of essential goods and services was also raised as a major election issue by the opposition parties.^[53] 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.^[54]

Haryana has a longstanding tradition in wrestling and sends the highest number of wrestlers who represent India at major international events.^[55] 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.^[56] 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.^[57]

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.^[58] The BJP had earlier reshuffled its leadership and limited the campaigning of former chief minister Khattar, who had faced opposition for his views.^[59] 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.^[60] Additionally, the BJP dropped a third of its sitting legislators to counter the anti-incumbency sentiment and fielded more than 20 new candidates.^[61]

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.^[62] 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.^[63]

The BJP's manifesto was titled Non-Stop Haryana ka Sankalp Patra, which outlined 20 key promises to address various issues across the state. The party promised to provide ₹2,100 (US$25) monthly assistance to women under the "Lakshmi Yojana" scheme and health insurance coverage of up to ₹1 million (US$12,000) per family under the "Nirogi-Ayushman Yojana". The party also promised a minimum support price for 24 crops. It further pledged to create job opportunities for local youth in ten industrial cities, including a special provision for 50,000 new jobs and guaranteed government jobs for 2 lakh youths without an exam. The manifesto also included guarantees of affordable housing for 5 lakh individuals in urban and rural areas, availability of gas cylinders for ₹500 (US$6.00) under the "Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana", free tablets for students under the "Awasiya Balika Yojana", and the construction of five Olympic class stadiums. Additionally, the party promised new airports, high-speed rail corridors between major cities and industrial expressways. It also aimed to raise social pensions based on scientific formulas and provide loans up to ₹2.5 million (US$30,000) for the other backward classes (OBC) for starting new business. Other promises include increased medical and engineering opportunities for OBC students, interest-free loans for agricultural education, and the creation of a sports university and cultural center in the state.^[64]

The Congress's manifesto focused on women empowerment, support for the elderly and disabled, job security for the youth, and improvement of the lives of families, farmers, and OBCs. It promised ₹2,000 (US$24) per month assistance for women and gas cylinders for ₹500 (US$6.00). It also guaranteed pensions of ₹6,000 (US$72) to the elderly, disabled, and widows, and that the restoration of the old pension scheme for the government employees. For the youth, the party promised 2 lakh government jobs and eradication of drugs from the state. It also promised 300 units of free electricity, medical coverage up to ₹2.5 million (US$30,000), a 100-yard plot and a two-room house costing ₹0.35 million (US$4,200) for the poor. The farmers were promised a legal guarantee of MSP and quick compensation for crop losses. The OBCs were promised a caste based survey and an increase in the creamy layer limit to ₹1 million (US$12,000).^[65]

The exit polls were released on 5 October 2024 after the polling ended. Most of the exit polls predicted a victory for the Congress.^[66] However, in actual result the BJP formed the government.

The BJP achieved its third consecutive victory in Haryana following the vote count for the October 5, 2024, assembly election, held on Tuesday. The party overcame 10 years of anti-incumbency and defied exit polls that had forecasted a decisive win for the opposition Congress. The BJP secured 48 seats in the 90-member assembly, while Indian National Congress, won 37 seats. Three independents and two candidates from the INLD also emerged victorious.^[70][71]

Result by alliance/party^[72]

Alliance/ Party				Popular vote			Seats
				Votes	%	±pp	Contested	Won	+/−
	Bharatiya Janata Party			5,548,800	39.94	3.45	89	48[73]	8
	INDIA		Indian National Congress	5,430,602	39.09	11.01	89	37[74]	6
			Communist Party of India (Marxist)	34,373	0.25	0.18	1	0
		Total		5,464,975	39.34	11.19	90	37	6
	INLD+		Indian National Lok Dal	575,192	4.14	1.70	51	2[75]	1
			Bahujan Samaj Party	252,671	1.82	2.39	35	0
		Total		827,863	5.96	0.69	86	2	1
	JJP+		Jannayak Janta Party	125,022	0.90	13.90	66	0	10
			Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram)	19,534	0.10	New	12	0
		Total		144,556	1.00	13.80	78	0	10
	Other parties						—	0	1
	Independents						—	3[76]	4
	NOTA			53,300	0.38	0.15	—
Total					100%	—	90	90	—

While the BJP celebrated their victory and hailed the elections as historic, the Congress rejected the Haryana election results, citing irregularities in certain districts and raising concerns about the functioning of EVMs. During a press conference, Congress leader Pawan Khera declared that the party could not accept the outcome.^[79][80] Congress leader Jairam Ramesh mentioned a "conspiracy," suggesting that in constituencies with higher battery levels (99%), the BJP won, while in those with lower levels, the Congress won. However, the party has not provided clarity on how battery levels are linked to tampering, and senior Congress leaders Bhupinder Hooda and Kumari Selja have already conceded defeat.^[81][82]

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has denied the allegations and has stated that no complaints regarding EVM batteries were raised by candidates or polling agents during the process. The ECI also dismissed earlier complaints from the Congress about a slowdown in result updates as ill-founded.^[83]

Over the years political parties, including the Congress, Samajwadi Party, and Bahujan Samaj Party, have raised concerns about EVM manipulation. However, the Supreme Court and the ECI have consistently maintained that EVMs cannot be manipulated. In April 2024, the Supreme Court rejected a plea for returning to paper ballots or 100% VVPAT slip counting.^[82][84] Interestingly, these allegations were raised by the members of the I.N.D.I.A bloc alliance when facing electoral defeat.^[85]

• Politics of Haryana
• List of chief ministers of Haryana