Nominees for Rania, Kalanwali announced by BJP; speculation on for 3 other seats in Sirsa dist

The BJP has announced its first list of candidates for the upcoming elections, naming Shishpal Kamboj for the Rania seat and Rajendra Desujodha for Kalanwali. This decision aims to woo the Kamboj community in Rania and Sikh voters in Kalanwali. Shishpal is the current BJP district president for Sirsa, while Rajendra rejoined the BJP about a month ago.

Candidates for the Sirsa, Ellenabad and Dabwali seats have not been announced yet. BJP leader Aditya Devilal resigned from his position at the Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board on Thursday and there is speculation that he might be fielded from the Dabwali seat.

Meanwhile, Haryana Lokhit Party (HLP) chief Gopal Kanda has been called to Delhi by the BJP high command. It is possible that Kanda could be given the Sirsa and Ellenabad seats due to a potential alliance between the BJP and the HLP. Rumours suggest that Gopal Kanda might contest from Sirsa, while his brother Gobind Kanda could contest for the BJP in Ellenabad.

The election race is expected to be intense, especially with members of the Chautala family having a face-off with each other once again. In Rania, Arjun Chautala, son of INLD leader Abhay Chautala, will compete against Ranjit Singh, a family member running as an Independent. In Dabwali too, members of the Chautala family may face each other. In Ellenabad, INLD leader Abhay Singh will be contesting, and if the BJP fields Gobind Kanda and the Congress fields Bharat Singh Beniwal, the competition will be fierce. In the 2021 by-election, Abhay defeated Gobind Kanda by 6,739 votes.

In Sirsa, the inclusion of Gokul Setia into the Congress party has caused unrest among long-time Congress leaders. Setia, who narrowly lost to Gopal Kanda in the 2019 elections, is expected to be a strong candidate for the Congress this time. His inclusion has disappointed some local Congress leaders who had been working hard for the party. Leaders such as Rajkumar Sharma, Veerbhan Mehta, Naveen Kedia and Amir Chawla are reportedly unhappy, with their supporters believing their leaders deserved the ticket.