Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini will contest the Haryana Assembly elections from Ladwa in Kurukshetra district. The ruling BJP is expected to release its first list of candidates for the October 1 polls by Sunday. Badoli — when asked from where the chief minister would contest the elections — said, "CM Ladwa se chunav ladenge (the CM will contest from Ladwa)."Saini, who represents the Karnal seat in the Haryana Assembly, was the MP from Kurukshetra between 2019 and 2024.
Speaking to reporters in Delhi, Badoli did not divulge if Saini would also contest from Karnal.The Ladwa Assembly seat is currently held by the Congress' Mewa Singh. Badoli, the MLA from Rai in Sonipat, also said that he would not contest the elections.After another round of meetings, the first list of candidates is expected to be out soon, he said.
He also said there had been no discussions regarding an alliance and asserted that the BJP would form the government with a clear majority.
The BJP has finalised the names of more than 50 candidates for the upcoming Haryana Assembly polls at its Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting held here on Thursday. The BJP CEC meeting, chaired by party president JP Nadda, was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, party's Haryana election in charge and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, National General Secretary (Organisation) BL Santhosh and other senior party leaders.
During the CEC meeting, discussions were held on the names of candidates for all seats, Badoli -- who took over as BJP chief in Haryana in July -- said and added another meeting would take place after two days.Some candidates will be declared in the first list, he said. In March, the BJP replaced Manohar Lal Khattar as Haryana chief minister with Saini, an OBC leader. Khattar, who won the parliamentary elections from Karnal, is now a Union minister.
At the time he replaced Khattar, Saini was the BJP's Haryana chief and the party's Kurukshetra MP. He won the bypoll from the Karnal assembly seat vacated by Khattar.Saini had won the assembly polls from the Naraingarh seat in Ambala district when BJP stormed to power in 2014. The 90-member Haryana Assembly is set to go to polls on October 1. The counting of votes will take place on October 4.
