Haryana polls: Congress names 45 candidates, 4 seats yet to be declared

The FOUR seats where the Congress yet to name candidates include Uklana – from where Kumari Selja was also keen to contest if the party high command considers her as a nominee in the assembly polls – Narnaund, Sohna, and Bhiwani.

Nirmal Singh has been fielded from Ambala City constituency. In 2019, Bhupinder Singh Hooda had vehemently supported Singh’s candidature, but failed, apparently due to Selja’s opposition. Dejected Nirmal Singh, a former minister, contested as Independent from Ambala City but lost to BJP’s Aseem Goel.

Singh, a four time Congress MLA, later went on to join the AAP but returned to Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in January. Nirmal Singh’s daughter Chitra Sarwara is also seeking a ticket from Ambala Cantonment, from where she contested in 2019 as an Independent candidate and gave a tough contest to BJP stalwart Anil Vij.

From Panchkula seat, the Congress has fielded BJP leader Kuldeep Bishnoi’s elder brother and Haryana’s former chief minister Bhajan Lal’s son Chandermohan, a close aide of Kumari Selja. Chandermohan had lost to BJP’s Gian Chand Gupta in 2019. Both are again pitched against each other once again.

Former Chandigarh MP and former union railways minister Pawan Kumar Bansal’s son Manish Bansal was also in the fray from Panchkula.
In Pehowa, the Congress has fielded Mandeep Singh Chatha, son of former Haryana minister Harmohinder Singh Chatha and an old loyalist of Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Congress’ Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Singh Surjewala’s son Aditya Surjewala and Congress’ Hisar MP Jai Prakash’s son Vikas Saharan have been fielded in Kaithal and Kalayat, respectively.

Former Haryana chief minister Bansi Lal’s son-in-law Sombir Sheoran has been named as Congress candidate from Badhra seat.

In Ellenabad, the Congress has fielded old hand Bharat Singh Beniwal, who shall be taking on INLD’s Abhay Singh Chautala. Hooda’s close relative Karan Dalal, who had already filed his nomination papers from Palwal, has been officially declared by the party as its candidate. In the Lok Sabha polls, Karan Dalal had launched a rebellion against his own party after he was denied a ticket from Faridabad.

Party sources told The Indian Express that the high command has attempted to make a balancing act between the Hooda, Kumari Selja and Randeep Surjewala factions in the third list.

The other prominent candidates in the third list are Akram Khan from Jagadhri, Balwan Singh Daulatpuria from Fatehabad, Ram Niwas from Hisar, Pradeep Narwal from Bawani Khera (SC) and Mohammad Israil from Hathin. A few of these are considered to be of Selja’s faction.

A few old timers during Hooda’s tenure as chief minister including Anita Yadav from Ateli, Rao Narinder Singh from Narnaul, Ram Niwas Ghorela from Barwala, and Sumita Virk in Karnal have also been fielded as party candidates.

In Adampur, the Congress fielded retired IAS Chander Prakash against former chief minister Bhajan Lal’s grandson Bhavya Bishnoi of the BJP.

In Jind, another Hooda loyalist and former minister Mange Ram Gupta’s son Mahabir Gupta has been named as party candidate.
From Mulana (SC) seat, the Congress has fielded Hooda loyalist and Ambala (SC) Lok Sabha MP Varun Chaudhary’s wife Pooja Chaudhary. Before contesting Lok Sabha polls, Varun was MLA from the seat, earlier represented by his father and former PCC president Phool Chand Mulana.

In the list of five candidates released at 2 am, a journalist Sarva Mitra Kamboj has been fielded in Rania, youth congress leader Sachin Kundu (Panipat, Rural), Piramal Pari (Ambala cantonment), Satbir Dublain (Narwana, SC) and Rohit Nagar (Tigaon).