Congress, AAP finalise candidates; Surjewala and Shruti file nominations

Political parties scrambled to release names of their remaining candidates for the Haryana assembly polls on Thursday, the last day of filing nominations, even as several nominees including Congress leader Randeep Surjewala's son Aditya filed their papers for the October 5 elections.

Former Haryana deputy chief minister and Congress candidate Chander Mohan and former CM Bansi Lal's granddaughter and BJP candidate Shruti Choudhry filed their nomination papers from Panchkula and Tosham, respectively.

BJP's Kurukshetra MP Naveen Jindal's mother Savitri Jindal, who was denied ticket by the party, also filed her nomination from the Hisar seat as an independent.

Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader Abhay Chautala filed his nomination from Ellenabad while BJP nominee and minister Mahipal Dhanda filed his papers from Panipat Rural.

 

Aditya Surjewala, accompanied by his father, filed his papers from the Kaithal seat.

Several other candidates from various parties and alliances including the BJP, Congress, AAP, JJP-ASP and INLD-BSP, and some independents also filed their nominations.

INLD, which is contesting the polls in alliance with the BSP, announced support to Haryana Lokhit Party led by Gopal Kanda in Sirsa.

Meanwhile, Haryana Janchetna Party chief and former Union minister Venod Sharma, whose wife and Ambala mayor Shakti Rani Sharma recently joined the BJP and is contesting the polls, on Thursday announced support to the saffron party in the elections.

Earlier, major political parties, including the Congress and the AAP, released the lists of their remaining candidates. The ruling BJP has already announced its candidates for all 90 assembly seats in the state.

On Thursday, the Congress announced the names of eight more candidates for the polls, while leaving one seat for the CPI(M), as it accounted for all 90 seats.

With the fourth, fifth and sixth lists coming out in quick succession before the deadline for filing nominations which ended on Thursday, the Congress declared candidates on 89 of the 90 seats. The party left the Bhiwani seat for the CPI(M).

The fourth list came a few hours after the Congress declared its third list of 40 candidates on Wednesday night.

The party fielded Parimal Pari from Ambala Cantt, its youth leader Sachin Kundu from Panipat Rural, Satbir Dublain from the Narwana (SC) seat and Rohit Nagar from Tigaon. Journalist Sarva Mitra Kamboj, who recently joined the Congress, has been fielded from the Rania seat in Sirsa district.

In its fifth list, the Congress announced the names of former MLA Naresh Selwal from Uklana (SC) and Jasbir Singh from Narnuad.

In the final list, the party announced the candidature of Rohtash Khatana, who was previously associated with the JJP, from Sohna.

The party had engaged in seat-sharing talks with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for the polls which hit a deadlock following hard bargaining from both sides. Since then, the AAP has released multiple lists of its candidates.

The AAP Thursday released the names of remaining candidates for the assembly polls, fielding senior leader Prem Garg from Panchkula.

For the 90-member Haryana Assembly, the party had till Wednesday declared the names of 70 candidates.

The AAP on Thursday named its candidates for the seats including Kalka, Ambala City, Mulana, Shahabad, Pehowa, Guhla, Panipat, Jind, Fatehabad, Ellenabad, Nalwa, Loharu, Badhra, Dadri, Faridabad NIT and Nuh.

According to a party statement, candidates for Badli and Narnaund seats have been changed while Adarshpal, who left the Congress to join AAP, has been made party candidate from Jagadhri.

Besides, the AAP has named Manish Arora as its candidate from Ellenabad, where the INLD has fielded its senior leader Abhay Singh Chautala. AAP's Haryana unit senior vice president Anurag Dhanda is fighting from Kalayat seat.

Meanwhile, Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) and Azad Samaj Party (ASP) also came out with the final list of some candidates hours before deadline ended. While the JJP is fighting on 69 seats, ASP has fielded 16 candidates.

The JJP-ASP alliance has extended support to three independents on Rania, Meham and Pundri seats. The alliance has not fielded candidates in Naraingarh and Ballabhgarh seats.

According to the list, in addition to the Kharkhoda segment in Sonipat, the JJP has also fielded candidates from the Karnal, Panipat Urban, Narwana, Uklana, Narnaund, Loharu, Nangal Chaudhary and Badkhal seats.

Former MP Ajay Singh Chautala-led JJP and Chandra Shekhar Azad-led ASP (Kanshi Ram) recently announced their alliance for the Haryana assembly polls.

However, the two parties later decided to extend support on the Rania assembly seat to former minister Ranjit Singh Chautala, who quit the BJP recently after being denied a ticket.

Meanwhile, Savitri Jindal, after filing her nomination, said, "I have pledged to serve Hisar for its development and transformation. The people of Hisar are my family and Om Prakash Jindal had established my relationship with this family."

She had aspired for a BJP ticket to contest the polls from Hisar but the party renominated sitting MLA and state minister Kamal Gupta from the seat.

Savitri, the wife of noted industrialist late O P Jindal, was elected as an MLA from the Hisar seat twice. She represented Hisar in the Haryana Assembly for the first time in 2005 as a Congress MLA and was reelected from the seat in 2009. She was made a minister in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government in 2013.

She quit the Congress in March this year when her son Naveen Jindal also left the party and later joined the BJP.

Meanwhile, Congress nominee Ashok Arora, accompanied by former chief minister Hooda, filed his papers from the Thanesar seat in Kurukshetra district.

The scrutiny of the nomination papers will be conducted on September 13 and nominations can be withdrawn till September 16.

Polling for the 90 assembly seats in Haryana will be held on October 5 and votes counted on October 8.

The ruling BJP is eyeing a hat-trick in the assembly polls but faces a stiff challenge from a resurgent Congress, which is looking to cash in on the anti-incumbency factor.