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Political parties yet to announce candidates for Baroda bypolls
The last date for filing nominations is October 16.
Even as two days are left for filing nominations, political parties in Haryana are yet to announce their candidates for the Baroda bypolls slated for November 3.
The last date for filing nominations is October 16. Scrutiny of documents will be done on October 17 and withdrawal of papers will be allowed till October 19. The counting of votes will take place on November 10.
While addressing mediapersons here, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state chief OP Dhankar said he along with chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, agriculture minister JP Dalal, Karnal MP Sanjay Bhatia and Rai MLA Mohan Lal, who is also the party’s Sonepat district president, will meet BJP national president JP Nadda in Delhi on Wednesday to finalise the candidate for the by election.
“ I am reiterating the ticket will be given to a dedicated BJP worker. This election is important for us and also a litmus test for Congress, who have been winning from here since last three assembly polls. Hopefully, we will select our candidate by Thursday. We have assigned duties to 27 leaders and each of them will look after two villages. We hope to repeat the performance of the Jind bypolls,” he added.
Later, while interacting with reporters in Delhi, Dhankar said they have suggested names of four candidates before the party’s election committee for the bypolls. “Our candidate will be announced by Thursday,” he added.
INLD likely to make announcement today
The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) general secretary Abhay Singh Chautala said his party will announce their candidate on Thursday and file nominations on October 16.
“We will give ticket to a party worker, who stood with us in tough times. Our entire focus in this election will be to highlight the plight of farmers, workers and deprived people. The BJP-JJP government will have to face the farmers’ brunt and they should come with security in villages while seeking votes,” the Ellenabad MLA added.
Meanwhile, leader of opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda, said the senior leaders of the Haryana Congress will meet in Delhi on Thursday to finalise their candidate.
Experts says political parties are delaying the announcement to stop rebels from shifting to other parties. A total of 25 candidates had applied for the BJP ticket and 28 aspirants want the Congress ticket.
The seat fell vacant after the demise of Congress MLA Sri Krishan Hooda on April 12. The Indian National Lok Dal has won the constituency from 1977 to 2005. The saffron party’s nominee has never won from the constituency, which has 54 villages. Half the voters here belong to the Jat community. In the 2019 assembly elections, Congress nominee Sri Krishan Hooda defeated wrestler-turned-politician Yogeshwar Dutt by 4,840 votes.
