Congress releases third list of 40 candidates
The Congress released its third list for the Haryana Assembly elections tonight comprising 40 candidates, including several leaders’ kin. Prominent among them is Aditya Surjewala, son of Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Surjewala, who has been fielded from Kaithal, and Hisar MP Jai Prakash’s son Vikas Saharan, who has been given the ticket from Kalayat. Ambala MP Varun Chaudhary’s wife Pooja Chaudhary has also been fielded from the family’s bastion Mullana (SC).
Mandeep Singh Chatha, son of former Finance Minister Harmohinder Singh Chatha, has been again fielded from Pehowa though he was third in 2014 and the first runner-up in 2019. Nirmal Singh got the ticket from Ambala City but his daughter Chitra Sarwara is yet to get the ticket.
Interestingly, Saharan, Raghubir Tewati from Prithla, and Karan Dalal from Palwal had filed their nominations before the announcement of their names. Former Deputy CM Chander Mohan, a Selja loyalist, secured the ticket from Panchkula despite losing in 2019.
From Hisar, Ram Niwas Rara has been named, though there were talks about Savitri Jindal, mother of Kurukshetra BJP MP, joining the Congress.
The party is yet to announce candidates for Ambala Cantonment, Rania, Panipat Rural, Narnaund, Narwana, Bhiwani, Tigaon, Sohna and Uklana.
Among the new faces, the party has fielded Raman Tyagi from Yamunanagar and dropped Nirmal Chauhan. From Guhla (SC), it has preferred Devinder Hans. From Pundri, the party has dropped Satbir Bhana and fielded Sultan Singh Jadola.
Rakesh Kamboj, who lost from Indri in 2019 by a margin of 7,431 votes as an Independent, has been given the ticket. Similarly, from Karnal, Sumita Virk has been nominated over Tarlochan Singh who has lost twice from here.
From Panipat City, Varinder Kumar Shah has been given the ticket. From Rai, Jai Tirath has been dropped for Jai Bhagwan Antil.
From Jind, Mahabir Gupta, who had contested on the JJP ticket in 2019, has been given the ticket. Dropping Prahlad Singh Gillankhera, the party fielded Balwan Singh Daulatpuria from Fatehabad.
From Sirsa, the party nominated Gokul Setia, who had contested as an Independent in 2019 and had lost by a margin of just 603 votes to Gopal Kanda. Both are in contest again.
Bharat Singh Beniwal was third in 2019 but has been fielded from Ellenabad to contest against INLD’s Abhay Chautala.
From Hansi too, the party has fielded Rahul Makkar, who contested on the JJP ticket in 2019 and was the first runner-up.
From Barwala, the Congress has fielded Ramniwas Ghorela, who was third from Barwala in 2019 as an Independent. Meanwhile, Rao Inderjit Singh’s brother Yaduvender Singh has been dropped from Kosli.
SON RISE
- Prominent among them is Aditya Surjewala, son of Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Surjewala, and Hisar MP Jai Prakash’s son Vikas Saharan.
