Haryana Assembly election: BJP may declare its first list by next week

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 22

The BJP is set to declare its first list of candidates for the high-voltage October 1 Assembly elections by early next week.

The BJP is likely to declare the first list after the meeting of the Central Election Committee (CEC) in New Delhi on August 25 to be attended by PM Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah besides senior leader Sudha Yadav from Haryana, sources said.

The list is likely to have ‘winnable’ candidates from the constituencies where they won or lost by a narrow margin in the 2019 Assembly elections.

During the recent meetings of the State Election Committee (SEC) and senior leaders in Rohtak, the saffron party ‘shortlisted’ candidates on at least 20 seats. The probable list was prepared on the basis of the feedback from grassroots workers besides surveys conducted by party across the state.

The list would also be discussed at ongoing two-day meetings of the SEC and the Haryana State Election Management Committee in Gurugram on August 22-23. A panel of 3-4 candidates will be prepared for the probable list to be finalised by the CEC.

The sources said certain legislators from the current 41 party legislators, who faced anti-incumbency, may not be nominated by the party in the upcoming Assembly poll. Besides, a majority of the 50 candidates, who lost elections during the 2019 Assembly polls, will also not get the ticket this time, the leader asserted.

Haryana BJP chief Mohan Lal Badoli has already gone on record saying that 25 per cent fresh faces as compared to the 2019 polls will be fielded by the party in this elections.

The ‘winnability’ is the only criteria for the selection of candidates, the sources said, adding that “party’s doors were always open for any bigwigs from other parties”, indicating that party hoppers could also get nomination from the saffron party.