As many as 1,169 candidates —with 10 percent of them women - are in the fray for the 90 seats in the Haryana Assembly elections, scheduled for October 21.

According to the Election Commission (EC) data, of the total 1,169 candidates in the fray, 1,064 are men and 104 are women. One candidate is a Transgender. Hansi has a maximum of 25 candidates in the running, while Ambala Cantt and Shahbad have just six. Narnaul is the smallest constituency in terms of voters, with just 1,44,066 electorate, while Badshahpur is the largest, with 3,96,281 voters.

As per the EC,  one constituency has less than 1.5 lakh voters, some 47 constituencies have between 1.5 lakh and 2 lakh voters and 42 constituencies have more than 2 lakh voters.  The State has 19,578 polling stations, which will use 27,611 VVPATs. The main contest is between the Congress and the BJP,  which has set a target of winning 75 seats for itself riding on the hype of the abrogation of special status to J&K under Article 370 and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

The Congress is focusing on issues like the economic slowdown, rising unemployment and farmers distress in its campaign. While Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has so far addressed a rally in Nuh. Another one is scheduled to be addressed by the party’s interim chief Sonia Gandhi on Friday.

The Chautala clan-led Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) as well as its offshoot Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) are also trying to make a dent in the votes of the two parties. Some seats are likely to have a triangular contest.