Seeking to match the Congress’s impressive tally of nine out of the 10 Haryana seats last time, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda toured the state extensively in the run-up to the elections. However, there were two Lok Sabha constituencies he visited just once — his son Deepender Hooda’s seat Rohtak, which looks set to return him comfortably; and Bhiwani-Mahendergarh, from where Forest Minister Kiran Choudhry’s daughter and Bansi Lal’s granddaughter Shruti Choudhry secured a ticket against his wishes.

These two examples, in a way, sum up the election scenario in Haryana as it votes on Thursday. The Congress is confident of winning at least half the seats, with little signs of an anti-incumbency sentiment, but its biggest worry remains the public infighting. The most famous instance was the spat between the CM and Finance Minister Birender Singh. Singh stayed away from campaigning after Hooda ensured he didn’t get an LS ticket despite the minister openly expressing his desire to contest. He was seen with Hooda only when Sonia Gandhi came for rallies.

Hooda had an equally public showdown with the Minister of State for Forests, but this time Kiran emerged victorious, getting a ticket for daughter Shruti from Bhiwani-Mahendergarh. However, none of the party MLAs from the Assembly segments within the constituency came out in support of Shruti. The ruling party faced another open revolt in Faridabad, where two local MLAs, Mahender Partap Chaudhary and Karan Dalal, declared they would not campaign for the Congress candidate. One of the ministers, A C Chaudhari, tendered his resignation (of course, only to Sonia Gandhi) alleging discrimination against Brahmins in the distribution of tickets.

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