Gurugram: In its first list of candidates for the upcoming Haryana Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has tried to play all cards in order to score a hat-trick in the state despite strong anti-incumbency sentiment.
Issued Wednesday, the list with 67 names includes 25 new faces, MLAs fielded from constituencies different from the ones they currently represent, defectors who have been accommodated.
At the same time, the BJP seems to have kept aside its oft-repeated principled stand against dynastic politics and the unwritten rule of retirement at 75 to placate its influential leaders in the state.
In the list, five tickets have been given to leaders who lost their contests in the 2019 assembly polls. The seats of four MLAs, including that of Chief Minister Nayab Saini, have been changed, and eight sitting MLAs have been denied tickets.
Saini, the MLA from Karnal, will now contest from Ladwa seat.
Similarly, Ranbir Gangwa, Deputy Speaker of the Haryana Assembly, and Nalwa MLA, has been given a ticket from Barwala instead of Nalwa, while Kosli MLA Laxman Yadav has been given a ticket from Rewari instead of Kosli.
If one looks at the list from a caste perspective, the BJP appears to have distributed a significant number of tickets to people from communities which did not vote for it in large numbers in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The BJP has given the most seats (41) to three communities: SC (Scheduled Castes), OBC (Other Backward Classes), and Jats. The party has fielded SC candidates from 13 seats, OBC from 15, and Jat from 13.
Of the 67 candidates in the first list, only eight are women.
Additionally, 10 defectors have been given tickets.
The oldest candidate is Ramkumar Gautam (78), who has been fielded from Safidon, while the youngest are Deepak Hooda (30), fielded from Meham, and Manju Hooda (30), fielded from Garhi Sampla Kiloi.
However, the BJP’s core vote bank—Brahmins, Vaishyas, and Punjabi communities—was given only 24 tickets in the first list.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, a big majority of Jats and SCs opposed the ruling party. Also, the BJP did not receive the expected support from the OBC vote bank, resulting in the party winning only five out of 10 seats in Haryana.
Jyoti Mishra, a researcher at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) in Delhi, told The Print that the BJP’s first list for the Haryana Assembly elections reflects a calculated strategy to counter anti-incumbency while carefully assessing the local influence of sitting MLAs.
“By announcing candidates for 67 of the 90 assembly seats, the party seeks to strike a balance between new entrants and seasoned leaders, acknowledging the importance of fresh faces to revitalise its appeal. This approach comes as the resurgent Congress party looks to capitalise on any weaknesses in the BJP’s candidate selection or governance record,” she said.
Jyoti added that the party has also recognised turncoats, including Shruti Choudhry, who was earlier in Congress, and three Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) MLAs. The party has given them tickets to contest from their strongholds, with the aim to expand the party’s electoral base in these constituencies.
Five dynasts, former Kabaddi captain
Tickets have been given to Bhavya Bishnoi (son of Kuldeep Bishnoi), Shruti Choudhry (daughter of Kiran Choudhry), Aarti Rao (daughter of Union Minister Rao Inderjit), Sunil Sangwan (son of former minister Satpal Sangwan), and Shakti Rani Sharma (wife of former minister Venod Sharma).
Sunil, whose tenure as Sunaria jail superintendent saw rape convict and Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim being released six times on parole or furlough, has been given a ticket from Charkhi Dadri, replacing wrestler Babita Phogat.
Sunil took VRS (voluntary retirement scheme) and joined the BJP earlier this week.
Supriya Shrinate, Congress’s chairperson for social media and digital platforms, wrote on X: “Who is so naive to be surprised by this news?”
Sunil is the son of former minister Satpal Sangwan who joined the BJP after leaving Congress before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, and is a former MLA from Charkhi Dadri.
In what appears to be an attempt to balance the denial of a ticket to Babita Phogat, the party has fielded Deepak Hooda, former captain of the Indian Kabaddi team, from Meham. Through this, the BJP has tried to appeal to athletes, especially amid speculation about Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia contesting the upcoming polls on Congress tickets. However, at the same time, the party denied a ticket from Pehowa to Sandeep Singh, former captain of the Indian national hockey team known for his reverse flicks. Singh is currently embroiled in a sexual harassment case involving a junior women coach.
The BJP has also snubbed former Olympian wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt in its first list. Dutt was anticipating a ticket from the Gohana seat in Sonipat district.
In the 2019 Assembly elections, and a by-election held in 2020, he contested from the Baroda Assembly seat in Panipat. However, he lost to Congress candidates Krishan Hooda in 2019 and Indu Raj Narwal in 2020. He even met with the BJP’s central leaders in Delhi but the party fielded former MP Dr Arvind Sharma from Gohana. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Sharma defeated Deepender Hooda in Rohtak but lost to him in the 2024 general election.
Further, five MLAs who lost in 2019 have been given tickets. These include Balwant Singh from Sadhaura, Bhagwandas Kabirpanthi from Nilokheri (SC), Rajya Sabha MP Krishan Lal Panwar from Israna (SC), Captain Abhimanyu from Narnaund, and Om Prakash Dhankar from Badli.
Panwar is the only sitting BJP MP fielded in the upcoming assembly elections. He is a prominent Dalit face for the Haryana BJP and was the transportation minister in Manohar Lal Khattar’s government from 2014 to 2019.
The BJP’s Badshahpur ticket to Rao Narbir Singh, who won the 2014 Assembly elections from the same seat and became a cabinet minister in Khattar’s government, is being seen as a move by the party to snub Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh. In the 2019 Assembly elections, Rao Inderjit Singh had denied a ticket to Rao Narbir Singh who announced earlier that he would contest as a Congress candidate if the BJP were to deny him a ticket.
A few days before the first list was released, Rao Narbir Singh met with Union Home Minister Amit Shah after which he distributed sweets to express happiness for being considered for a ticket, even before an official announcement was made.
(Edited by Radifah Kabir)
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