BJP has nominated 69-year-old Kiran Choudhary, a former Congress heavyweight, as its candidate for Haryana’s lone Rajya Sabha seat by-election slated for September 3.
The decision was announced by party leader Kanwar Pal Gujjar after the BJP Legislative Party meeting. The central election committee of the BJP cleared her name just a day before the nomination deadline. Kiran will be filing her nomination papers at 10 am on Wednesday.
Hours before the announcement of her candidature Kiran, who represented the Tosham constituency in Haryana’s Bhiwani district, submitted her resignation to Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker Gian Chand Gupta and the latter promptly accepted it. This resignation has now left the 58-Tosham Assembly constituency seat vacant, with the Haryana Assembly Secretariat issuing an official notification confirming the vacancy as of August 20.
Kiran’s nomination is widely viewed as the BJP’s attempt to secure the influential Jat community’s support in the state, particularly in the Bhiwani region, as the assembly elections loom just 28 days after the Rajya Sabha vote.
Kiran’s departure from the Congress was fuelled by her dissatisfaction over the party’s decision to deny a Lok Sabha ticket to her daughter and former Bhiwani MP Shruti Choudhary. Their defection to the BJP on June 19, this year, marked the end of Kiran’s decades-long association with the Congress, a split that has now reached its apex with her Rajya Sabha candidacy. The daughter-in-law of former Haryana Chief Minister Bansi Lal, Kiran first got elected as an MLA from Tosham in 2005.
Citing her neglect in the Congress and accusing the party stalwart Bhupender Singh Hooda of dictatorship in the party, Kiran Chaudhary joined BJP ahead of the last Lok Sabha elections. She is the daughter-in-law ofChaudhary Bansi Lal, who held the post of the Chief Minister of Haryana thrice.
Kiran Chaudhary’s husband Surendra Singh died in a helicopter crash. After the demise of father-in-law and husband, Kiran Chaudhary carried forward the political legacy of the family. She won the by-election for the first time in 2005. After this, she had marked three consecutive victories in assembly elections in 2009, 2014 and 2019.
The BJP has 41 MLAs in the Haryana Assembly. It has the direct support of 43 MLAs including its ally Haryana Lokhit Party led by Gopal Kanda Halopa and an independent MLA Nayanpal Rawat.
The Congress currently has 28 (excluding Kiran Chaudhary), JJP 10, INLD 1 and 4 independents, i.e. a total of 43 MLAs. There are 5 Rajya Sabha seats in the state. One Rajya Sabha seat fell vacant after Congress’ Deepender Hooda contested the Lok Sabha polls from the Rohtak Lok Sabha seat and won.
Kiran’s strained relationship with the Congress began to unravel during the 2022 Rajya Sabha elections, when senior Congress leader Ajay Maken suffered a shocking defeat amid allegations of cross-voting by party MLAs. The differences had heightened during the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections, when the Congress fielded former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda loyalist Rao Dan Singh ignoring her daughter.
Kiran, one of the most vocal critics of former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, accused him of monopolizing the party’s leadership in Haryana. She recently took a jibe branding the state unit of the Congress as the “Hooda-Betta” party—a sharp reference to Bhupinder Hooda and his MP son, Deepender Hooda.
While Kiran’s elevation has been met with enthusiasm by some within the BJP, it has also sparked discontent among the party’s senior leaders in Haryana who had been lobbying for the Rajya Sabha seat. Political observers warn that this could be a double-edged sword for the BJP: on one hand, Kiran’s candidacy could bolster the party’s influence in the Jat-dominated Bhiwani region; on the other, it risks alienating the party’s core leadership, who may feel sidelined after years of loyalty and hard work. Also there is a strong possibility that Kiran’s daughter Shruti may also get BJP ticket from Tosham assembly constituency.
From a strategic standpoint, Kiran’s election to the Rajya Sabha seems all but certain, given the BJP’s strength of MLAs. Meanwhile, the Congress, perhaps sensing defeat, has chosen to distance itself from the race, citing insufficient numbers. The by-election, necessitated by Congress leader Deepender Singh Hooda’s move to the Lok Sabha, is set for September 3, with the deadline for nominations looming on August 21.
