Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini and former minister Anil Vij. (File image)
The BJP has dropped nine MLAs, including a sitting minister, as it announced 67 candidates in its first list for Haryana.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday released its first list of 67 candidates for the upcoming Haryana legislative assembly elections.
The list included the name of Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, who will contest from Ladwa. Names of former ministers Anil Vij, Bhavya Bishnoi, and Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh’s daughter Aarti Rao were also there on the list.
As per the list, former state home minister Vij will contest from the Ambala Cantt seat, while Ambala Mayor Shakti Rani Sharma, who switched over to the ruling party from the Haryana Janchetna Party recently, has been fielded from the Kalka seat.
BJP releases its first list of 67 candidates for the upcoming Haryana Assembly elections.CM Nayab Singh Saini to contest from Ladwa, Gian Chand Gupta from Panchkula, Anil Vij from Ambala Cantt., Kanwar Pal Gurjar from Jagadhri, Sunita Duggal from Ratia, Bhavya Bishnoi from… pic.twitter.com/iBvdwdabLX
— ANI (@ANI) September 4, 2024
Haryana Assembly Speaker Gian Chand Gupta has been fielded from Panchkula, former Speaker Kanwar Pal Gurjar from Jagadhri, and Tejpal Tanwar from Sohna.
Former Haryana BJP chief Om Prakash Dhankar, who is the party’s national secretary, has been fielded from Badli. In Karnal, which is currently represented in the Assembly by Chief Minister Saini, the BJP has fielded senior leader Jagmohan Anand who is considered close to Union Minister and former Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
Former Minister Vipul Goel has been fielded from Faridabad where Narender Gupta is the sitting MLA.
Senior BJP leader and ex-minister Captain Abhimanyu, Bhavya Bishnoi, the son of Kuldeep Bishnoi, and former Sirsa MP Sunita Duggal have been fielded from Narnaund, Adampur and Ratia (SC) segments, respectively.
However, former captain of the Indian national hockey team, Sandeep Singh, has been dropped from Pehowa seat. Instead of Singh, Sardar Kamaljeet Singh Ajrana would contest on the BJP ticket from the constituency. Additionally, Kabbadi player Deepak Hooda has been given a ticket from Meham.
Three former MLAs of JJP–Devender Singh Babli (Tohana), Ram Kumar Gautam (Safidon), and Anoop Dhanak (Uklana)–who recently switched to the saffron camp have also been given tickets.
As per the list, the BJP has dropped nine MLAs including a sitting minister.
The BJP’s list comes hours after the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) released its first list of 19 party candidates in alliance with Azad Samaj Party. Former Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala will contest from Uchana Kalan, from where he is the sitting MLA. While 15 candidates on the list were from the JJP, four were from the Chandra Shekhar Azad-led ASP.
Haryana assembly elections
The Election Commission last week revised the polling day for Haryana Assembly polls from October 1 to October 5, 2024, with results to be declared on October 8.
Here’s the complete revised schedule for Haryana assembly polls:
Issue of notification: 5 September
Last date of notification: 12 September
Scrutiny of nomination: 13 September
Last date of withdrawal of candidature: 16 September
Date of poll: 5 October
The Election Commission had earlier, on August 16, announced that Assembly polls in Haryana would be held in a single phase on October 1 and the results would be declared on October 4.