Chandigarh, Oct 26 (PTI) With only a few days left for the Ellenabad bypolls in Haryana, key parties are making last ditch effort to woo the voters, with Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar holding his first election rally on Tuesday, claiming all-round development in the state.

While the BJP has fielded Gobind Kanda as the party candidate from Ellenabad, main opposition Congress has fielded Pawan Beniwal.

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In the triangular contest, they are up against Indian National Lok Dal's senior leader Abhay Singh Chautala, whose resignation in January over the farm laws issue had necessitated the bypolls to the rural constituency falling in Sirsa district.

While Abhay and his father O P Chautala have been campaigning in the constituency, the former MLA's elder brother and Jannayak Janta Party president Ajay Singh Chautala besides Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala sought votes for the JJP-backed BJP candidate.

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While Dushyant addressed a separate election meeting in the Ellenabad constituency, Ajay Singh Chautala, who was accompanied by JJP state president Nishan Singh, spoke at the election rally addressed by the chief minister.

Power Minister and Abhay's uncle Ranjit Singh Chautala also addressed the election meeting with the chief minister and sought votes for Kanda.

On the other hand, Haryana Congress chief Kumari Selja has been aggressively campaigning for her party candidate.

Addressing an election meeting in Randhawa village in Nathusari Chopta in Sirsa district, Khattar said his government has ensured all-round development of the state.

"We had promised a transparent and corruption-free government and we delivered on what we said," said Khattar.

He said recruitments were made on merit, which is now sole criteria for getting jobs unlike favouritism that prevailed during the previous regime.

On the farmers' issue, Khattar said the government was working for their welfare and touched upon several initiatives and schemes in this regard.

In his address, Ajay Chautala launched a scathing attack on Abhay Chautala, saying his ego is responsible for the situation which INLD finds itself today.

"When the party bifurcated, INLD's vote share was 27 per cent with 20 legislators, which plunged to 0.8 per cent in the 2019 Assembly polls. His ego created this situation," said Ajay.

Making a reference to Sirsa district, which was once considered a stronghold of the INLD, Ajay said, "This stronghold is going to become a 'khandar' (ruin) for them."

Addressing a separate election meeting, Ajay's son and Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala appealed the gathering to make Gobind victorious, saying it will be his responsibility to ensure development of the constituency.

"People of Ellenabad are giving a lot of support to the alliance candidate. The alliance will win the seat comfortably. It will be alliance's win over 'bhai' (fear) and ‘ahankar' (pride)," said Dushyant in a veiled attack on Abhay while interacting with reporters later.

Minister Ranjit Singh Chautala, while addressing the election meeting in the presence of Khattar, said, "If the BJP wins, shape of this constituency will change."

Addressing a poll meeting, INLD chief and former CM O P Chautala appealed to voters to make Abhay victorious, even as he hit out at the BJP-JJP government, dubbing it as a "failure on all fronts".

Abhay also addressed a poll meeting. While exuding confidence of his victory, Abhay said people of Ellenabad know that he has stood by them all these years.

In her election meeting in the constituency, Congress leader Kumari Selja hit out at the BJP-led government, saying it is not listening to farmers.

The bypolls will be held on October 30 and the counting will take place on November 2.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)