The ruling BJP on Wednesday, 2 October announced the names of the remaining 12 candidates for the upcoming Haryana Assembly polls, with the Gurgaon legislator being among four sitting MLAs denied tickets. The party had earlier declared a list of 78 candidates for the 90-seat Assembly elections.
The final list also dashed the hopes of minister Rao Narbir Singh, who was denied a ticket from his Badshahpur constituency in Gurgaon district, but was hopeful that the party may adjust him on another seat.
Earlier, when the Bharatiya Janata Party released its first list of 78 candidates, ministers Rao Narbir Singh and Vipul Goel (Faridabad) were among eight sitting legislators being denied a re-nomination.
The BJP has 48 legislators in the 90-member Haryana Assembly. With the second and final list out, a total of 12 MLAs have been denied a ticket for the upcoming polls.
Several Sitting Legislators Denied Tickets
In the second list, the party has denied a ticket to Panipat City MLA Rohita Rewri, in whose place Pramod Viz has been fielded. From Gurgaon, Umesh Aggarwal failed to get a re-nomination and Sudhir Singla got the ticket.
Notably, Umesh Aggarwal did not share good equations with Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
From Kosli in Rewari district, sitting legislator Bikram Singh Yadav has been replaced by Laxman Yadav, while Sunil Musepur replaces sitting legislator Randhir Kapriwas from the Rewari seat.
On the Naraingarh seat, the BJP has fielded Surendar Rana. This Assembly constituency was represented by the BJP's Nayab Singh Saini who was elected to the Lok Sabha this year from the Kurukshetra parliamentary constituency.
The other seven seats are represented by the opposition members. From these seats, the candidates fielded by BJP include three women.
From Ganaur, Nirmal Choudhary will enter the fray, Meena Narwal from Kharkhoda reserved seat, Dudaram Bishnoi from Fatehabad, actress Sonali Phogat from Adampur, Shashiranjan Parmar from Tosham, Shamsher Kharkada from Meham and Chief Minister M L Khattar's aide Deepak Singla from Palwal.
With the announcement of candidates for all the 90 seats, speculations were put to rest that the party may accommodate ministers Vipul Goel and Rao Narbir Singh, both of whom were denied re-nomination, on other seats.
Rao Narbir Singh had met Khattar in the morning and his supporters had exuded hope that he would be accommodated on another seat.
Earlier in the day, while speaking at a Swachhta campaign function in Badshahpur in Gurugram, CM Khattar indicated that luck plays a part in candidate selection.
Rao Narbir was also present in that event.
With filing of nominations closing on Friday, the BJP is the only party to have announced candidates to all seats.
Yogeshwar Dutt, Babita Phogat Featured in First List
The BJP, in its first list of candidates, named wrestlers Babita Phogat and Yogeshwar Dutt on Monday, 30 September.
While Yogeshwar Dutt will be fighting from Baroda, Phogat will contest from Dadri. Ex-hockey captain Sandeep Singh too will fight on a BJP ticket from Pehowa. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar will fight the elections from Karnal, the seat which he had won in 2014.
Here is a full list of 78 BJP candidates for Haryana state elections:
National general secretary Arun Singh said the party's central election committee, which had met on Sunday, has repeated 38 MLAs and dropped seven of them for the polls to the 90-member Assembly.
Haryana BJP president Subhash Barala will contest from Tohana, Captain Abhimanyu from Narnod and Om Prakash Dhankar from Badli, Singh said.
Former Union minister and Jat leader Birender Singh's MLA wife will contest from Uchana Kalan, a seat she had won in 2014.
(With inputs from PTI)
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