Former Indian kabaddi team captain and Bharatiya Janata Party nominee Hooda is locked in a multi-cornered electoral contest from the Jat-dominated Meham assembly constituency in the Rohtak district for the Haryana assembly polls.
Independent MLA Balraj Kundu, who has been vocal against the BJP-led government on several issues, remained firm in his decision to abstain from voting.
Congress leaders, on their part, are confident that the mobilisation of voters away from the BJP will gain more momentum in the state elections, scheduled for October 1, in the absence of national issues and the 'Modi factor'.
The voter turnout recorded in the 2019 assembly polls was around 68 per cent.
The Congress sought the imposition of President's Rule followed by fresh polls in Haryana.
"It was a rehearsal for the proposed January 26 tractor parade," Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) leader Shingara Singh Mann told PTI over the phone.
Counting of votes for the two Rajya Sabha seats from Haryana was put on hold on Friday after the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Independent candidate backed by it urged the Election Commission to cancel the votes of two Congress MLAs.
A day earlier while extending his support to the farmers gathered at Delhi's borders protesting the Centre's new farm laws, Sangwan had tendered his resignation as chairman of the Haryana Livestock Development Board.
According to a senior Election Commission official in Chandigarh, Panwar got 36 votes, while Sharma got 23 first preference votes and six transferred from the BJP, taking his tally to 29.
The Congress's motion of no confidence against the Bharatiya Janata Party- Jannayak Janata Party government in Haryana was defeated on Wednesday with 55 members of the assembly voting against the motion while 32 members from the opposition camp backed it.
Among the other prominent faces for the ruling BJP who tasted defeat in the elections was its state president Subhash Barala.
Asserting that the agitation against the Centre's farm laws is a people's movement that will not fail, Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait on Sunday said there will be no 'ghar wapsi' till protesting farmers' demands are met.
On Sunday, Rajya Sabha passed the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020.
The apparent BJP move to accept Kanda's support was slammed by the opposition Congress and BJP leader Uma Bharti, who recalled the row in which the politician was involved when as a minister in Haryana's Congress government in 2012.
The decision was taken at a meeting of Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of 40 farmer unions protesting at various Delhi border points against three farm laws.
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