Chandigarh: In another demonstration of the party’s approach of sticking to what it knows best, the Congress’ candidates list for the Haryana assembly elections is just a combination of old guard and kin of senior leaders.
On Thursday, the Congress declared six candidates, in addition to 84 names announced last evening. It has fielded all 15 MLAs who won on the party symbol in the previous election from their respective seats.
The only notable aspect of the list was the party’s willingness to accommodate a substantial number of leaders who have defected from other parties.
The announcement of the first list came late Wednesday as the party sought to avoid more confrontation after a bitter factional fight reached the doorstep of interim Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
Old-timers & their families
Among the prominent names in the first list, former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is set to contest from the Garhi Sampla Kiloi seat, his traditional stronghold. He will take on BJP’s Satish Nandal, an INLD defector who had fought the ex-CM in the last assembly elections too, but lost by a margin of over 47,000 votes.
Congress national spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala will again fight from Kaithal, while former leader of the legislative party in the state Kiran Chaudhary will be contesting from her home seat of Tosham.
Her brother-in-law Ranbir Singh Mahendra, son of former CM Bansi Lal, has also been retained from his traditional seat Badhra, which he had lost in the last election to BJP by over 5,000 votes.
Lal’s son-in-law Somvir Singh is the party’s repeat candidate from Loharu.
Other close relatives fielded by Congress include former chief minister Bhajan Lal’s sons, Kuldeep Bishnoi and Chander Mohan.
Bishnoi had won the 2014 elections from Adampur as a Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) candidate. The party was launched by Bhajan Lal in 2007 after breaking away from the Congress. Mohan had unsuccessfully contested as an HJC candidate from Nalwa.
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In 2016, the HJC merged back with the Congress.
This time, Bishnoi will fight from Adampur on a Congress ticket. Mohan, however, has been shifted to Panchkula, a seat he had earlier represented.
Bishnoi’s wife Renuka, who had successfully contested the elections from Hisar last time, has not been given a ticket.
Former cabinet minister Harmohinder Singh Chattha has again managed to get a ticket for his son Mandeep Singh from Pehowa. Mandeep had lost the seat in 2014. This time, he will be up against BJP’s Sandeep Singh, former Indian hockey team captain.
Venu Singla Aggarwal, a close aide of state president Kumari Selja, has been fielded from Ambala Cantt where ticket-hopeful Chaudhry Nirmal Singh has turned rebel.
The party has also declared Shalley Gurjar from the Naraingarh seat. She is the wife of Ram Kishan Gurjar, a former Congress MLA from the same seat who unsuccessfully contested last time. He was convicted of abetment to suicide in 2017 in a 10-year-old case of suicide of a journalist.
Neeraj Sharma will fight from Faridabad NIT. His father and veteran leader Shiv Charan Lal Sharma had lost from the same seat in the previous assembly elections.
Former finance minister Ajay Singh Yadav’s son Chiranjeev Rao will contest from Rewari, and Vijay Pratap Singh, son of former minister Mahender Pratap Singh, will fight from Badkhal.
From Hathin, the Congress has fielded Mohammad Israil, son of former MLA Jaleb Khan. Varun Chaudhary, son of senior leader Phool Chand Mullana has also been accommodated with a ticket from Mullana.
The defectors
Looking to make room for some defectors, the party has announced Rao Kamalbir Singh, former JD(U) Haryana unit chief and brother of state minister Rao Narbir Singh, among others. He will contest from Badshahpur. Kamalbir joined the Congress in February. Narbir, who had won the seat in 2014 on a BJP ticket, has not been fielded this time.
The party has also named former INLD leaders Pradeep Chaudhari (Kalka), Ashok Arora (Thanesar) Jasbir Mallour (Ambala City), Bishan Lal Saini (Radaur), Mewa Singh (Ladwa) and Surender Panwar (Sonepat) as its candidates.
Former BSP leader Akram Khan, who joined the Congress in March this year, will contest from Jagadhri. The two-time MLA and ex-deputy speaker was with the INLD prior to his BSP stint.
All 90 constituencies in Haryana are set to vote on 21 October. The counting of votes will take place on 24 October.
Also read: Sportspersons, 11 turncoats in BJP’s first list of 78 candidates for Haryana elections