New Delhi, Sep 11 (PTI) The Congress on Wednesday released its third list of 40 candidates for the Haryana Assembly polls, fielding party MP Randeep Surjewala’s son Aditya Surjewala from Kaithal.
With this, the Congress has declared a total of 81 candidates for the polls to the 90-member assembly. The Congress has not declared candidates for nine seats, fuelling speculation over a last-minute tie-up with AAP and other small outfits.
Thursday is the last day of filing of nominations.
Besides Surjewala, the third list includes Chander Mohan from Panchkula, Nirmal Singh from Ambala City, Akram Khan from Jagadhri, Balwan Singh Daulatpuria from Fatehabad, Ram Niwas Rara from Hisar, Pradeep Narwal from Bawani Khera (SC) and Mohammad Israil from Hathin.
The Congress on Friday declared 32 candidates for the polls, fielding former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi, state unit chief Udai Bhan from Hodal, and wrestler Vinesh Phogat from Julana.
The party had first released a list of 31 candidates and a little later, in a statement, said the CEC had approved the candidature of Balbir Singh from the Israna (reserved for the Scheduled Castes) constituency.
Singh is the incumbent MLA from Israna.
The party declared nine candidates on Sunday. It has renominated all its 28 MLAs.
Besides Hooda, Bhan, and Phogat, the Congress has also fielded Mewa Singh from Ladwa to take on Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini.
The Congress was also engaged in seat-sharing talks with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for the Haryana polls, with hard bargaining going on from both sides.
However, the talks hit a deadlock and the AAP has released multiple lists since then.
Some Congress leaders have expressed reservations over a tie-up with the Arvind Kejriwal-led party.
Assembly elections in Haryana will be held on October 5 and the counting of votes will be undertaken on October 8. PTI ASK RHL
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