While the Bharatiya Janata Party and its alliance partner Jannayak Janata Party will jointly contest the bypoll to Ellenabad assembly seat in Sirsa district, the saffron party will field its candidate for the electoral battle.
The BJP has convened a meeting of the election committee on October 3 to discuss the names of probable candidates and chalk out campaign strategy for the bypoll.
Haryana BJP chief OP Dhankar on Thursday held a meeting with the party's core group of Sirsa district to take feedback regarding the byelection. After the meeting, Dhankar said that the BJP-JJP will fight the Ellenabad byelection together. The BJP has called a meeting of the election committee on October 3 to discuss the preparations and the names of the candidates for bypoll.
For the bypoll, former state president Subhash Barala has been appointed in-charge for the elections and as his associates, deputy speaker Ranbir Gangwa, MLA Kamal Gupta, SC Morcha state president Krishan Lal Panwar and backward class Morcha state president Karandev Kamboj have been given the responsibility, Dhankar added.
When asked whether the bypoll would be a challenge for the BJP amid farmers’ protest, Dhankar said that the bypoll is a challenge for Indian National Lok Dal’s Abhay Chautala who will contest to retain the Ellenabad seat while it is an opportunity for the BJP to win this seat.
Ellenabad, known as INLD’s stronghold, is a rural seat, having more than 1.8 lakh voters.
The byelection was necessitated after Abhay Chautala had resigned on January 27 from the Ellenabad constituency in support of ongoing farmers’ agitation against three central farm laws.
Notably, the Congress has also convened a high-level meeting of its leaders from Haryana on October 1 in New Delhi to chalk out a strategy for Ellenabad bypoll.