The Bharatiya Janata Party, on Wednesday, announced its first list of 67 candidates for the Haryana assembly elections. Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini will contest from the Ladwa seat.
These include Haryana Speaker Gian Chand Gupta for Panchkula, former Home Minister Anil Vij for Ambala Cantt, ex-Haryana BJP President Om Prakash Dhankar for Badli, former Speaker Kanwar Pal Gurjar for Jagadhri, and former MP Sunita Duggal for Ratia.
While the new BJP members, namely Devender Singh Babli, Sanjay Kablana, and Shruti Choudhry will contest from Tohana, Beri, and Tosham seats, respectively. Similarly, Arti Singh Rao, daughter of Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh is all set to try her luck from Ateli. The list also includes Capt Abhimanyu and Bhavya Bishnoi, son of Kuldeep Bishnoi.
While addressing the reporters, Union Minister and former Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar said, “Today a list of 67 candidates has been issued. Seats have been given to almost all senior candidates. I think the nominations will begin tomorrow and continue till September 12. The remaining seats also will be cleared and the list in a few days will be released.”
Haryana will go to polls on October 5, and the results will be announced on October 8. The nomination papers can be submitted till September 12, and nomination can be withdrawn till September 16.
The announcement comes on the day the Jannayak Janta Party, in alliance with the Azad Samaj Party, announced its first list of 19 candidates. Former Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala will contest from Uchana Kalan, which he represents as an MLA at present. Of the 19 candidates, 15 are from the JJP and four from the ASP.
The Congress party, trying to win back power from the BJP after ten years, is engaged in discussions with the Aam Aadmi Party for an electoral alliance.