The Congress on Sunday announced the list of candidates for elections to the posts of mayor and president in municipal councils in Haryana. As the Congress braces for another electoral battle against the ruling BJP after last year’s Assembly election debacle, sons, daughters, and wives of senior Congress leaders have secured nominations for key mayoral and municipal president posts.

The urban local body elections are being held for eight Municipal Corporations, four Municipal Councils, and 21 Municipal Committees. In addition, by-elections for the mayoral seats of Ambala and Sonepat have been necessitated following the election of the incumbents to the Vidhan Sabha.

In the list of candidates for mayoral poll across these key municipalities, the faction led by former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda appears to have gained the upper hand. Like Lok Sabha and assembly elections, even in civic polls, it is Hooda and his team who have called the shots. The entire state election committee is dominated by leaders from the Hooda group.

For Sonepat mayoral by-election, the party has nominated Kamal Dewan, son of two-time MLA Dev Raj Dewan. A prominent Punjabi face, Kamal is set to go head-to-head with BJP’s Rajiv Jain, a former media adviser to the CM.

In Ambala, the party fielded Amisha Chawla, who contested the 2020 mayoral elections on a Haryana Democratic Front (HDF) ticket and finished third. She is the wife of former Congress leader Dalip Chawla, who has since passed away. Shakti Rani Sharma, who had originally won on a Haryana Jan Chetna Party ticket, switched to the BJP and secured a win from Kalka in the 2024 Assembly poll. In Yamunanagar, the Congress has nominated Kiran Devi, wife of former MLA Rajpal Bukhari, who has strategically maintained ties with both the Hooda and Selja camps.

For the president’s post in Pataudi Jatauli Mandi, Raj Rani, wife of Congress leader Sudhir Kumar Chaudhary, has been named. Chaudhary had unsuccessfully contested the 2024 Assembly poll from Pataudi.

In Sirsa Municipal Council, a close aide of Congress MLA Gokul Setia, Jaswinder Kaur, daughter of former municipal committee chairman Sukhwinder Kaur Gill, has been selected, while for the Manesar mayor post, the party has put forward Neeraj Yadav, related to former zila parishad chairman Krishan Yadav.

In Rohtak, a stronghold of Hooda, the party has chosen three-time councillor Suraj Mal to contest for the mayor’s post. Meanwhile, in Karnal, the party has fielded former deputy mayor Manoj Wadhwa, who had unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Assembly election on an INLD ticket against former CM Manohar Lal Khattar. Wadhwa’s political trajectory has been marked by shifting allegiances — after his 2014 loss, he joined the BJP but returned to Congress before the 2024 Lok Sabha election. His wife, Asha, had also contested the last mayoral election in December 2018 against BJP’s Renu Bala Gupta, losing narrowly.

Gurugram’s mayoral contest will see two-time councillor Seema Pahuja carrying the Congress banner. She joined the Congress in the afternoon and got the ticket by the evening. In Hisar, the party has placed its confidence in Krishan Singla, a close aide of Hisar MP Jai Prakash. In Thanesar, Sunita Nehra is candidate for municipal president poll.

In BJP, many Vij’s nominees fail to get ticket

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also released a list of mayor and councillor candidates for the upcoming municipal elections in Haryana. The announcement has triggered discontent within the party as some senior BJP leaders who had previously served as councillors were denied tickets despite their “seniority and contributions” to the party. The BJP’s list of councilor candidates features several new faces along with some prominent local leaders.

Moreover, the growing differences between the state BJP leadership and Cabinet Minister Anil Vij came to the fore once again after the names of a number of candidates, reportedly recommended by the minister for Municipal Council Ambala Sadar election, failed to find a place on the list of candidates released by the party. As per the information available, of the 32 candidates chosen for the MC election, 15 were not recommended by the local unit.

Vij’s supporters raised slogans in support of the Minister and against those who were given party tickets. Even those who were given party tickets expressed resentment and said that they would follow the directions of Vij. They said those who had worked against Vij in the Assembly election have been given tickets. Sources said that the minister has apprised the party high command about the resentment among party workers and also assured the party workers and mandal presidents that he would stand with their decision.

Moreover, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has also started announcing the candidates for civic polls. AAP has named Kamlesh Kumar Saini and Amit Khatak as mayoral candidates for Sonipat and Rohtak municipal corporations. Besides, the party has released a list of candidates for the election of members of Faridabad Municipal Corporation, Narnaund municipal council, and other civic bodies where it fared well in Lok Sabha and assembly elections.