Haryana elections: BJP's full list out; AAP-Congress name more candidates

All parties in Haryana are finalising their Assembly election candidates as the nomination deadline approaches on Thursday. The BJP has named contenders on all 90 seats

All parties in Haryana are expected to release their full list of candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections as Thursday marks the last day to file nominations for the polls, which will be held in a single phase on October 5.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has named candidates for all 90 seats. Till Wednesday noon, the party had named contestants for all except three constituencies. In its third and final list, it announced that Rohtash Jangra from Sirsa, Kanwar Singh Yadav from Mahendragarh, and Satish Fagna from Faridabad NIT got the party ticket.

 

After failed talks over the potential alliance, the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress have also named candidates for nearly all constituencies in Haryana. On Thursday, the AAP released its sixth list of 19 candidates. With this, it has named contestants for all seats except one.

The Congress also released a new list today, naming five candidates. The party initially had hoped for an alliance with the AAP but they failed to build a consensus on a seat-sharing deal. The Congress has so far named 86 candidates, including Olympian wrestler Vinesh Phogat, who is set to mark her political debut bid from Haryana’s Julana.

Eyes on Phogat’s Julana seat

Besides Phogat, other heavyweights fielded by the party include former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi and state unit chief Udai Bhan from Hodal. It has named  Mewa Singh from Ladwa to take on BJP CM Nayab Singh Saini. To counter Phogat, the AAP has named ex-wrestler Kavita Dalal, while the BJP has fielded Captain Yogesh Bairagi.

The AAP, which contested 46 seats in 2019 but failed to taste success, will try to grow its influence in the state. Last time, it won less than 1 per cent of the total vote share. 

Regional parties face extinction threats

Other regional parties like the Indian National Lok Dal and Jannayak Janta Party will contest the poll battle to stay afloat in the Haryana political landscape and avoid complete marginalisation as their influence decreases in the region. This became evident from the recently concluded Lok Sabha election results, in which all parties except the BJP, Congress and the AAP, got less than 2 per cent vote share, data on the website of the Election Commission shows. The AAP got 3.9 per cent votes while the BJP the highest vote share at 46.11 per cent. Both BJP and the Congress won five seats each.