Sixth phase- Biggest Dip in polling reported from Haryana, down from 69.93 percent in 2019 to 59.63 in 2024.

With the mercury soaring high, breaking new records, people of eight states and union territories on Saturday exercised their franchise rights to elect the 18th lok sabha. The 58 constituencies that voted yesterday recorded 64.73 percent polling in 2019 came down to 61.01 percent, as per the latest Election Commission data at 11.30 pm. Haryana, among all the eight states and UTs saw the biggest dip in the polling from 69.9 percent in 2019 to 59.63 percent this time.

With 60.2 percent polling, Faridabad remained at the lowest in the tally of the 10 Lok Sabha seats of Haryana. For the Faridabad seat, the BJP veteran Krishan Pal Gurjar was contesting against Congress candidate Mahendra Pratap. Notably, in 2019 Krishan Pal Gurjar defeated congress candidate Avtar Singh Bhadana, with more than 6 lakh votes and recorded a historic win but looking at the dreary voting performance from Faridabad this time, the chances of such a big win like the 2019’s seems bleak. The turnout from Millennium City Gurugram was also recorded at 60.7 percent lower than 67.33 percent in 2019.

While the NCR cities recorded lower turnout, the border constituencies of Haryana like Sirsa and Ambala topped the list with the highest turnout in the state. Sirsa topped the list with around 69.1 percent voting on Saturday, and Ambala came second with 67 percent voting. In Sirsa, Ashok Tanwar of BJP was fighting against congress veteran Kumari Shelja and both the candidates seemed confident of their respective wins ahead of the polling day. Notably, Ashok Tanwar’s campaign got a big boost just two days before the polling as Ram Rahim’s Dera Sauda announced its support for BJP. As the Dera sympathizers are known to vote lum-sump rallying behind the candidate announced by the organization, Tanwar’s fortune would be thankful to them on 4th June if the result comes positive for him.

Hisar, which witnessed one of the most interesting election campaigns this time, with three Chautalas contesting from three different parties recorded around 64.7 percent turnout as compared to 72.33 percent in 2019. Hisar became one of the most unpredictable seats for the political pundits as Naina Chautala from JJP, Sunaina Chautala from INLD, Ranjit Singh Chautala from BJP and old congressman JP were fighting against each other in the four-faced contest. Rohtak recorded around 64.6 percent polling where former Rajya Sabha member Deependra Singh Hooda was fighting against BJP’s Arvind Sharma. Kurukshetra, which also saw three faced contest with Abhay Chautala from INLD, Businessman Naveen Jindal from BJP, and as he said “Jaaton ke gaon ka baniya” ( Person from Baniya caste living in Jats village) Sushil Gupta from Aam Aadmi Party, recorded around 66.3 percent as compared to 74.29 percent in 2019.

Karnal which saw Ex-CM  Manohar Lal Khattar against the congress newcomer Divyanshu Buddhiraja recorded around 63.2 percent polling down from 68.35 percent in 2019. Sonipat also recorded a dip with 62.3 percent down from 71.02 percent in 2019. The Jat-Ahirwal seat of Bhiwani-Mahendargarh, where the majority of the people came out to vote in the evening due to the hot winds in the day, recorded around 65.3 percent polling down from 70.48 in 2019. While the mercury reached 45 degrees in most parts of the state, the pattern was quite the same in most parts of the state and people preferred coming out in the later part of the day due to the harsh weather conditions. Nonetheless, with the voter's choice locked in EVMs, the fate of candidates will be decided on the 4th of June and it won’t be wrong to say that “the summers will be harsh” for some candidates this time.