Haryana assembly election: Naveen Jindal reaches polling station on horse to cast his vote
Naveen Jindal had quit the Congress party and joined BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in March this year.
BJP MP and industrialist Naveen Jindal on Saturday reached a polling station in Haryana's Kurukshetra on a horse to cast his vote for the Haryana assembly election. Follow live updates
In a video posted by news agency ANI, Jindal can be seen getting down from a brown horse and meeting his supporters at the polling station. He can also be seen clicking pictures with them.
Jindal had quit the Congress party and joined BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in March this year.
Jindal's mother, Savitri, who is also the chairperson of the O P Jindal Group, is contesting the Haryana assembly election as an independent candidate from the Hisar constituency. She is pitted against Haryana minister and sitting MLA Kamal Gupta.
After casting her vote, Savitri urged the people of Haryana to exercise their franchise.
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“I have cast my vote. This is the election of the people of Hisar; everyone should vote. I will try to make Hisar beautiful and developed,” she said.
Meanwhile, her daughter, Seema Jindal, also cast her vote and said: “Pehle matdan phir jalpan - It is a 'yagna' for our country, city and state. So, everyone should cast their vote.”
Haryana assembly election
Haryana is voting in a single phase on Saturday, with as many as 1031 candidates, including 101 women, in the fray for the 90-member Haryana legislative assembly.
The northern state, where the BJP has been in power since 2014, is witnessing a high-stakes battle as the ruling party eyeing a third straight term in power. The Congress is also aiming to wrest back power, riding on anti-incumbency and issues of farmer and wrestler protests.
Some of the key candidates include chief minister and BJP leader Nayab Singh Saini, state Congress stalwart and former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and ex-deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala. All eyes are also on former wrestler Vinesh Phogat, who joined the Congress party last month and is contesting her maiden election.
The results for the Haryana assembly election will be declared on October 8.
In the 2019 assembly elections, the BJP won 40 of the 90 seats in Haryana, forming a coalition government with the JJP, which won 10 seats. However, JJP later broke out of the coalition. The Congress secured 31 seats.
(With inputs from ANI)