With just three days left to file nomination papers, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) released the first list of 20 candidates for the Haryana assembly polls on Monday. The development comes when there was no breakthrough in the seat-sharing talks between the AAP and Congress.

AAP Haryana president Sushil Gupta said, “We have to uproot the corrupt and arrogant government of Haryana and change the system. AAP has already released the list of 20 candidates and soon the next list of candidates will be released.”

Speaking on the alliance possibility with Congress, Gupta said, “AAP consistently made efforts to seal the alliance and now there is less time left for the polls, so we released our list of candidates.” The AAP leader clarified that the party continues to be a part of the INDIA bloc, a grouping of the country’s opposition parties.  “We are a constituent of the INDIA alliance, and we still are a partner of INDIA bloc alliance at the national level,” said Gupta.  The AAP leader, however, did not shed light on factors that stalled the alliance talks between Congress and AAP.

“We work on the orders of our national leadership. We honestly waited for the alliance. We have a strong organisation in every assembly constituency of Haryana and the organisation wanted us to contest the election. We showed patience, and finally released our list,” Gupta said. Gupta also spoke on the lack of consensus over seat sharing. “I do not want to go into allegations and counter allegations. I want to clearly say that we are a strong (political) alternative in Haryana, and it will show results in Haryana”, he said.

Out of the 20 candidates’ list, AAP’s Haryana state vice president Anurag Dhandha will contest from Kalayat constituency and Gurpal Singh will fight from the Naraingarh assembly seat. The last date of nomination for assembly polls is September 12.

Congress fields Brijendra against Dushyant from Uchana Kalan

The Uchana Kalan seat is set to witness a fierce battle between two political dynasties with Brijendra Singh and former Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala pitted against each other. Both have been former MPs of Hisar and their families had been taking on each other from this seat for decades.

Announcing names of nine party candidates for the 2024 assembly polls, the central election committee of the Congress late on Sunday evening fielded former BJP member of Parliament (MP) Brijendra Singh from Uchana Kalan constituency. With this, the Congress has announced candidates for 41 assembly constituencies out of a total of 90 so far. Four Jats, two Punjabi Khatris, two backward classes and a Brahmin candidate figure in the Sunday’s list.

A former IAS officer, Brijendra Singh, who won a BJP ticket from Hisar Lok Sabha seat in 2019 quit the party to join the Congress in March this year. His father Birender Singh, a former Congressman who had joined the BJP in 2014, has also made a U-turn to join back the Congress. Brijendra will be pitted against former deputy chief minister and JJP leader Dushyant Chautala.

From Congress, the grandson of former Chief Minister Bansi Lal, Anirudh Chaudhary, who was fielded from the Tosham assembly constituency by the Congress, will take on his cousin and Bansi Lal’s granddaughter Shruti Choudhry of the BJP. Balram Dangi, son of former minister Anand Singh Dangi has been fielded from Meham assembly constituency while Manju Choudhary, wife of Gujjar leader Mula Ram is party’s candidate from Nangal Chaudhary. Mula Ram contested the 2019 assembly election on a JJP ticket and lost by about 20,000 votes to BJP candidate Abhe Singh Yadav. As expected, the party announced the candidature of former ministers Ashok Arora and Paramvir Singh from Thanesar and Tohana assembly constituencies, respectively. Former assembly speaker Kuldeep Sharma is party’s candidate from Gannaur assembly seat. Two new faces – Mohit Grover from Gurgaon constituency and Vardhan Yadav from Badshahpur constituency — were also given tickets by the central election committee. Mohit Grover is the son of party’s former district president Madan Lal Grover while Vardhan Yadav is a Youth Congress leader.

JJP-ASP alliance releases second list of 12 candidates

The Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) and Azad Samaj Party (ASP) (Kanshi Ram) alliance on Monday released its second list of candidates for the Haryana Assembly elections. In this second list, the alliance has announced 12 candidates, with 10 seats allotted to JJP and 2 seats to ASP. From the JJP side, Sushil Garg, a councilor in the Panchkula Municipal Corporation, will contest from Panchkula; Avtar Kardhan, a sarpanch and former chairperson of PACS, will contest from Ambala Cantt; Dr. Sukhwinder Kaur, wife of senior leader and former candidate Prof. Randhir Cheeka and a former professor of political science at DAV College, Pehowa, will contest from Pehowa; and Sandeep Garhi, the JJP president of Kaithal constituency, will contest from Kaithal. Other JJP candidates include Anil Tyagi from Ganaur, Sushil Bairagi from Safidon, Advocate Sushila Deshwal from Garhi Sampla Kiloi, Amarnath JE from Pataudi, Ashok Jangra from Gurgaon, and Jaan Mohammad from Ferozepur Jhirka.