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1.5 million Gurugram citizens to vote on Saturday
The four assembly constituencies in the district of Gurugram are Gurgaon, Badshahpur, Pataudi, and Sohna
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More than one-and-a-half million registered voters, of which 42000 are first-time ones, will exercise their franchise on Saturday in 1,500 polling booths across Gurugram as Haryana elects a new 90-member assembly in a closely contested vote.
The key issues that will influence Saturday’s vote for Millennium City residents will be the rapidly rising instances of crime, the worsening condition of the city’s roads, poor drainage that has led to widespread flooding throughout the monsoon, and the erratic power supply.
Heavy security – consisting of more than 6,000 personnel, including paramilitary forces, home guards, and special police officers (SPOs) – has been deployed at more than 1,500 polling booths across Gurugram with special focus on sensitive locations to ensure peaceful voting for assembly elections, the district police said.
The four assembly constituencies in the district of Gurugram — Gurgaon, Badshahpur, Pataudi, and Sohna — will be voting on Saturday along with the rest of Haryana.
With intense campaigning across the state, all political parties and Independent candidates have roped in prominent state- and national-level leaders to gain traction.
The results will be announced on October 8.
The district police have appealed to all residents to vote peacefully, maintain law and order, and report any criminal activities immediately.
For the Gurgaon seat, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has chosen seasoned politician Mukesh Sharma, known for his grassroots connections, while the Congress has fielded Mohit Grover, a young Punjabi candidate focused on youth and development issues.
Through his weeks-long poll campaign, Sharma has talked about his vision for a corruption-free government, promised better women’s safety, as well as the creation of government jobs without bureaucratic delays. He connected directly with voters through visits to condominiums, rallies, and public gatherings, promising to enhance infrastructure and improve residents’ daily lives.
Meanwhile, Congress in Gurgaon has fielded Mohit Grover, a young Punjabi candidate with deep party roots, to lead its charge in Gurgaon. Experts have said that the Congress’s strategic nomination in this largely Punjabi-dominated constituency could work in the party’s favour. Grover, in one of his campaigns last month, said that his focus is on addressing the shortcomings of his previous election. “I was young then, and it was my first election. Now, I am fully prepared,” he said, adding that voters are disillusioned with the BJP’s 10-year tenure.
The third major candidate in the fray is Naveen Goyal, recently expelled from BJP, who is gaining widespread support as an independent candidate in Gurgaon constituency.
Other candidates in the fray are Sanjay Lal (independent), are Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Dr Nishant Anand, Jananayak Janata Party’s (JJP) Ashok Jangra, and Indian National Lok Dal’s (INLD) Gaurav Bhati.
In the Badshahpur assembly constituency – the largest in Haryana with over 500,000 voters – a close contest is on the cards primarily between BJP’s Rao Narbir Singh and Vardhan Yadav from the Congress.
In Pataudi, with a voter bank of 255,000, another tough contest is on the cards between BJP’s Bimala Chaudhary and Congress’s Pearl Chaudhary.
BJP’s Tejpal Tanwar is contesting from the Sohna seat – home to 250,000 voters – for the second time after 2014 while the Congress has fielded Rohtas Singh Khatana who has a strong presence among the Gujjar voters. Kalyan Singh Chauhan, Javed Ahmed, Dayaram and Subhash Chand are the independent candidates in the fray.
