78 names announced for Assembly polls; Khattar to contest from Karnal
In the list of 78 candidates which the party released on Monday for the Haryana Assembly elections, the BJP has given tickets to sitting MLAs, sporting stars and turncoats who joined the party recenty.
Hoping to form the Government for the second time in a row, the saffron party has given tickets to several prominent sportspersons who joined it in recent weeks with international wrestler Babita Phogat being fielded from Dadri, former Indian hockey captain Sandeep Singh given ticket from Pehowa and Olympic medallist Yogeshwar Dutt from Baroda constituency.
Former Indian fast bowler Chetan Sharma, who was seeking party ticket from Faridabad, has not been accommodate in the first list.
As expected, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has been fielded from the party stronghold of Karnal for the October 21 polls in which BJP has given the slogan of “75 plus” in the 90-member Assembly. Khattar would be the Chief Ministerial face of the party in the polls.
The party’s Central election committee, which had met on Sunday, has repeated 38 MLAs and dropped seven of them. Of the seven dropped MLAs, there are two Ministers, Vipul Goel and Rao Narbir Singh. Some of the INLD turncoats who had joined the BJP in the last few months have been rewarded with with party tickets.
Vipul Goel and Rao Narbir Singh, Ministers, were sitting MLAs from Faridabad and Badshahpur constituency respectively. Deputy Speaker Santosh Yadav, who represented Ateli constituency in Mahendergarh district, too was denied ticket. While Goel has been replaced by Narinder Gupta, Manish Yadav comes in for Rao Narbir Singh and Sita Ram Yadav have replaced Santosh Yadav.
BJP’s top brass, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party chief and Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP working president JP Nadda deliberated with other CEC members from Haryana to finalise names of candidates.
Haryana BJP president Subhash Barala will contest from Tohana, Captain Abhimanyu from Narnod and Om Prakash Dhankar from Badli. Aditya Devilal, a grandson of Jat stalwart Devi Lal, has been fielded from Dabwali, the Chautala clan’s bastion represented by Naina Chautala, who is the wife of former MP Ajay Singh Chautala. .
Making an exception on relatives contesting the polls, former Union Minister and Jat leader Birender Singh’s MLA wife Prem Lata will contest from Uchana Kalan, a seat she had won in 2014.
His son Brijender Singh, who quit IAS to join politics, won from Hisar parliamentary seat in the May 2019 polls. As Birender Singh is already a Rajya Sabha member, there are presently 3 members of the family in politics now.
The candidates include nine women and two Muslims. The last date for filing nominations is October 4.
In the 2014 polls, BJP had stormed to power in Haryana for the first time, winning 47 seats.
Since coming to power it has consolidated its political position further in the state as its rivals, Congress and INLD, were hit by internal fight made worse by their repeated showing in different polls. The party had won Jind bypolls earlier this year, taking its strength to 48. In the last parliamentary polls, the party scored a perfect 10 winning all the seats in the state.
In 2014, the BJP had benefited from the consolidation of non-Jat voters behind it in a state long dominated by leaders from the community. The party’’s choice of Khattar, who is from Punjabi community, was apparently driven by it. The party is, however, hopeful of winning over a significant section of Jats this time.