1,031 in fray in Haryana, rebel trouble persists as some refuse to bow out

As many as 1,031 candidates will contest the Haryana Assembly elections as 190 nominees have withdrawn their papers, said Chief Electoral Officer Pankaj Agarwal said on the last day of withdrawal of nominations on Monday.

BJP nominee quits for kanda, In vain

• High drama was witnessed in Sirsa, where BJP’s Rohtash Jangra withdrew his nomination in support of Gopal Kanda, who has tied up with INLD
• When INLD’s Abhay Chautala questioned the BJP support, Kanda turned down BJP offer. The fight is now between Kanda and Cong’s Gokul Setia

With the BJP and the Congress managing to convince some of their rebels to withdraw in favour of the party candidates, the two national parties, facing a revolt after the ticket distribution, might be over the hump but they certainly cannot breathe easy yet as campaigning picks up pace in Haryana.

While five prominent rebels of the BJP withdrew their candidature before the deadline expired, the Congress managed to convince as many as 10 rebels to withdrawn their nominations in favour of the party’s official candidates.

After Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini of the caretaker government in Haryana went all out to dissuade rebels from contesting elections and other senior leaders also reached out to them, the party expressed satisfaction with the outcome.

The senior BJP rebels who have withdrawn their nomination papers include Rajiv Jain (Sonepat), Bharti Saini and Shiv Kumar Mehta (Narnaul), former Deputy Speaker Santosh Yadav (Ateli)) and Rampal Yadav (Kosli).

However, the prominent rebels still in the fray include Devender Kadian (Ganaur), Zile Ram Sharma (Assandh), Deepak Dagar (Prithla), Kehar Singh Rawat (Hathin) and Bachan Singh Arya (Safidon). They could queer the pitch for the party candidates from these seats and are a matter of concern for the party facing anti-incumbency after two terms in the government.

“We have managed to convince some leaders to withdraw. Some of them are angry and we are still trying to urge them to ‘retire’ in favour of the party candidates. Our appeals are reaching them and there is no reason to believe they won’t retire. However, if they still want to contest, the party will contest with all its might and win these seats as well,” said Satish Punia.

The Congress which saw fewer “revolts” compared to the BJP has pockets in Faridabad that still remain “vulnerable”. While three rebels, including Himmat Singh and Jasbir Malour, have withdrawn in Ambala, Sampat Singh (Nalwa), JP Redhu (Jind), Prem Singh Malik and Suman Sharma (Hansi), Prem Hingakheri (Shahbad), Pradeep Khatana and another rebel (Sohna) have also withdrawn.