Haryana was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 November 1966 on linguistic as well as on cultural basis.[3][4] Since 1967 elections have been held by the Election Commission of Haryana.[1] 1st (1951), 2nd (1957) and 3rd (1962) Lok Sabha elections (also called general elections) were held when Haryana was still part of Punjab. Haryana was divided into 10 Lok Sabha constituencies, out of which 2 are reserved. After the electoral boundaries delimitation in 2007 by the Delimitation Commission of India, Bhiwani and Mahendragarh
constituencies became defunctional and those were replaces by 2 new reorganised constituencies.[5]
Delimitation
After formation of Haryana in 1966, the composition of Lok Sabha was changed and seats were enhanced to accommodate additional seats from the newly formed state of Haryana.[6] Last delimitation of electoral boundaries of Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha constituencies in Haryana was done by the Delimitation Commission of India in 2007-08.[7] After the delimitation in 2007-08, Bhiwani and Mahendragarh constituencies were merged to form Bhiwani–Mahendragarh and a new Gurgaon Lok Sabha constituency was craved out by bifurcating the existing Faridabad Lok Sabha Constituency.[5][8]
Currently Haryana has 10 Lok Sabha and 90 Vidhan Sabha seats, of which 2 Lok Sabha and 17 Vidhan Sabha seats are reserved for the Scheduled Castes. For the 2026 delimitation, Haryana is proposed to have 14 Lok Sabha and 126 Vidhan Sabha seats, of which 3 Lok Sabha (1 more) and 25 Vidhan Sabha (8 more) seats will be reserved. This will add 4 Lok Sabha and 36 Vidhan Sabha seats to Haryana.[9]
Haryana, after being separated from Punjab, first went to polls in 1967. Lok Sabha elections, also called the General Elections, are held at national level, Vidhan Sabha elections are held to elect the state level assembly, and the grassrootslocal self-governance elections are held at Municipal and Gram panchayat (village council) level.
Lok Sabha elections
Haryana has 10 Lok Sabha constituencies, including 2 reserved constituencies (Ambala and Sirsa).
Local self-government in India refers to governmental jurisdictions below the level of the state in the federal republic of India with three spheres of government: central (union), state and local. The 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments give recognition and protection to local governments and in addition each state has its own local government legislation.[21] Since 1993, local government in India takes place in two very distinct forms. Urban localities, covered in the 74th amendment to the Constitution,[22] have Nagar Palika but derive their powers from the individual state governments, while the powers of rural localities have been formalized under the panchayati raj system, under the 73rd amendment to the Constitution.[23]District Magistrates (in their capacity as District Election Officers), Electoral Registration Officers and Returning Officers are responsible for conducting municipal and panchayat raj elections at village, block and district level.[21][12]
Haryana has 22 districts, 72 sub-divisions, 93 tehsils, 50 sub-tehsils, 142 blocks, 154 cities and towns, 6,841 villages, 6212 villages panchayats and numerous smaller dhanis.[24] Haryana has at least 10 municipal corporations (Gurugram, Faridabad, Ambala, Panchkula, Yamunanagar, Rohtak, Hisar, Panipat, Karnal and Sonepat), 18 municipal councils and 52 municipalities (c. Jan 2018).[25] See the partial list (please help expand) of
and
.
Brahmin Belt - Also known as GT Road Belt, an area on either side of the Grand Trunk Road from Ambala to Sonepat, has 28 legislative assembly constituencies. This area is not dominated by any single caste or community.[39][35] But Brahmins (mostly Gaurs) constitutes the single largest community with presence in every village and city.[40]
Jat belt is an area where jats are found in numerically higher numbers compared to other castes.
According to ECH data Haryana has poor female participation in contesting elections, out of the 90 assembly seats there are 58 seats which have never elected a female MLA. The Kalanaur Vidhan Sabha reserved constituency has elected the most number of female MLAs. From 1967 to 2014, 44 elected female MLAs were from congress, 11 from BJP, 6 from Janata Dal and INLD, 4 from Janata Party, 2 from Vishal Haryana Party, 2 from Hariyana Vikas Party. As of September 2019, only 3 female have won elections an independent candidate: Sharada Rani from Ballabgarh in 1982, Meritorious from Jhajjar in 1987 and Shakuntala Bhagwadia from Bawal in 2005. In 2014, 10 candidates were fielded by Congress, 16 by INlD, 15 by BJP, 12 by Haryana lokhit Party, 5 of HJC, 6 by Bahujan Samaj Party, and 4 by Jan Chetna Party, among them Rohita Rewari of BJP from Panipat city garnered a maximum of 63.5% votes, and a minimum of 30.3% votes were gained by Santosh Chauhan Sarwan of BJP from Mullana.[1] In 2019 Vidhan Sabha elections, only 9 (10% of total legislature membership) female candidate were elected, 4 from Congress, 3 from BJP, 1 from JJP and 1 independent.[44] In 2024 Haryana Legislative Assembly election, 13 female candidates were elected to the legislative assembly, 7 from Congress, 5 from the BJP and an independent (who later gave support to the BJP government).
Prominent female politicians of Haryana include the late Sushma Swaraj - former Union Foreign Minister, and Chandravati - former Governor who had defeated then Chief Minister Bansi Lal in 1972.[1]
^"States Reorganisation Act, 1956". India Code Updated Acts. Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India. 31 August 1956. pp. section 9. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
^Singh, Jai Pal; Khan, Mumtaz (1999). "Hindu Cosmology and the Orientation and Segregation of Social Groups in Villages in Northwestern India". Geografiska Annaler. B (Human Geography). 81 (1). Wiley on behalf of the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography: 27–28. doi:10.1111/j.0435-3684.1999.00046.x. JSTOR491040.
^Haynes, Edward S. (1978). "Imperial Impact on Rajputana: The Case of Alwar, 1775-1850". Modern Asian Studies. 12 (3). Cambridge University Press: 423–424. doi:10.1017/s0026749x00006223. JSTOR312228. S2CID145559962. (subscription required)