No Hooda or Selja ‘quotas’ in Congress’s Haryana list this time. Fewer Jats, no repeat losers

The Congress's Haryana screening committee for poll candidates has been holding meetings over the last few days to finalise names for the election scheduled to be held on 1 October.

File photos of Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Kumari Selja | ANI

New Delhi: The Congress is likely to field fewer Jat candidates in the Haryana assembly election, in an attempt to accommodate more non-Jat faces ranging from Punjabis to Ahirs, taking a leaf out of the Samajwadi Party’s PDA (Backwards, Dalits, Minorities) plank in Uttar Pradesh that jolted the BJP.

The Congress’s move to raise non-Jat representation in its list of candidates is also aimed at containing the BJP’s influence among the numerically smaller communities. This influence had helped the BJP rise to power in the state in 2014, ousting Bhupinder Singh Hooda as the chief minister after two straight terms in office. 

The Congress’s Haryana screening committee for candidates led by Rajya Sabha MP Ajay Maken has been holding meetings over the last few days to finalise names for the election scheduled to be held on 1 October. Speaking to ThePrint, two members of the committee said the criteria being followed in drawing up the names have marked a departure from the past.

For one, the names of candidates who have lost two consecutive elections are not being considered, while the sitting MLAs will also not automatically become eligible for tickets, as was the norm previously under the “sitting-getting” formula followed by the party.

“There are 15 candidates who have lost the previous two assembly polls. These names are not being considered. Also, candidates who lost deposits in the 2019 polls will not be fielded. Unlike in the past, only those sitting MLAs whose survey reports have come out favourable will be fielded,” a member of the screening committee said. 

The member claimed that the party had shelved the policy, followed in the previous rounds of polls, of distributing tickets based on a “quota system” for the two warring camps led by Hooda and Sirsa MP Kumari Selja respectively. 

Under the policy, the Congress high command would set aside certain seats for the two camps to contain infighting in its Haryana unit during assembly elections in the state. This time, “merit” is the criterion in selecting candidates, a Congress functionary told ThePrint, adding that “intensive face-to-face interviews are being held in Delhi’s Himachal Bhawan with the probables”.

“The idea is to assess the awareness of the candidates about the demographic and caste-break up of the seat that they want to contest from. The screening committee already has detailed backgrounders of every constituency,” he said. 

He added that the list of candidates will have “fewer names” from the Jat community compared to 2019. “In Lok Sabha, we used to field around four Jats. This time the number was two including that of Deepender Singh Hooda. The same policy will be followed in the assembly polls too. There will be more Ahirs, Punjabis, Vaishyas,” he said.

According to estimates drawn up by political parties, Ahirs account for about 5.50 percent of the state’s total population, Vaishyas five percent, Punjabis eight percent, and Brahmins 7 percent. The numerically dominant Jats have a share of around 22.5 percent in the population, while the Scheduled Castes comprise 20.2 percent.

Power struggles in Haryana Congress

These considerations by the Congress in drawing up the list of candidates are significant as the Selja camp has accused the Hooda lobby of asserting dominance to accommodate its favourites, edging out names that do not owe allegiance to them.  

In 2019, Selja was made the chief of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee days before the polls, while Hooda was named the head of the election management committee. Ashok Tanwar, who was replaced by Selja as the state Congress head, had then quit the party alleging that in Haryana the party had become “Hooda Congress”.

This time, Hooda is the Leader of Opposition in the assembly, while his close confidante Udai Bhan is the incumbent state chief. In the Lok Sabha polls, in which the Congress won five out of 10 seats in the state, candidates of the Hooda camp dominated the list, while Selja herself won by a big margin from the Sirsa seat.

However, she has thrown her hat into the ring once again, expressing her desire to contest the assembly polls. Randeep Singh Surjewala, who aligns with Selja in the state unit, has also dropped hints that he wants a ticket for either himself or his son Aditya. On Wednesday, All India Congress Committee Haryana in-charge Deepak Babaria told reporters that it is likely that Aditya will be fielded. 

More importantly, he appeared to rule out the possibility of sitting MPs such as Selja getting an opportunity to contest, saying “kisiko ijazat nahi milega” (no one will get the permission). The Selja camp, however, maintains that such announcements are “routine” and that the final decision will be taken by the high command. 

In fact, Babaria also appeared engaged in damage control on Thursday as he told reporters that not contesting the assembly elections wouldn’t amount to ruling out a leader from claiming the CM’s post in the event of a Congress victory. 

“Anyone who has the backing of MLAs and the blessings of the high command can throw their hat into the ring,” Babaria said. 

The BJP took swipes at the Congress over Babaria’s remarks, saying Hooda will never allow any other leader to grow in the state. “Bhupinder Hooda is the crocodile in the Congress pond who has eaten all the fish in the pond but is still not full. After Kumari Selja’s exit, it is now Randeep Surjewala’s turn because whether it is the Centre or the state, only nepotism prevails in the Congress,” the Haryana BJP posted on X.

(Edited by Gitanjali Das)