Congress releases list of 31 candidates for Haryana elections; Vinesh Phogat fielded from Julana
Haryana elections: The Congress fielded wrestler Vinesh Phogat from Julana hours after she joined the party along with Bajrang Punia.
Haryana elections: The Congress party on Friday released its first list of 31 candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections in Haryana.
The party fielded wrestler Vinesh Phogat from Julana seat hours after she joined the party along with Bajrang Punia.
The party has also fielded former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda from the Garhi Sampla-Kiloi seat. Surender Panwar has been given a ticket from Sonipat, Jagbir Singh Malik from Gohana, and Bharat Bhushan Batra from Rohtak.
Haryana Congress chief Udai Bhan will contest Assembly polls from Hodal seat. Congress candidate Mewa Singh will take on Haryana chief minister and BJP leader Nayab Saini in Ladwa.
From Badli seat, the Congress has fielded Kuldeep Vata, Geeta Bhukkal from Jhajjar (reserved for SC), Chiranjeev Rao from Rewari, Aftab Ahmed from Nuh, and Neeraj Sharma from Faridabad NIT.
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The list was released after the Central Election Committee (CEC) of the Congress met in Delhi. The meeting was attended by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Sonia Gandhi, party general secretary in-charge organisation K C Venugopal, All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of Haryana Deepak Babaria and Hooda, among others, attending the meeting.
Haryana goes to the polls on October 5 and the votes will be counted on October 8.
The last date to file nominations is September 12, with the papers being scrutinised on September 13. Nominations can be withdrawn till September 16.
Earlier this week, the BJP had announced 67 candidates for the upcoming assembly polls by banking on 21 sitting legislators, and introducing at least 20 new faces. The saffron party dropped at least eight sitting MLAs in a bid to buck the strong anti-incumbency of its 10 years in power in Haryana.
The BJP is facing a significant challenge from the Opposition, which is eager to capitalise on any perceived weaknesses.