Despite extensive campaigning by candidates of various parties, the Opposition Congress in Haryana has not yet declared its candidates for 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The polling in Haryana will take place in the sixth phase on May 25. Despite facing opposition at several places in the state during their public meetings, candidates of the ruling BJP and its former ally JJP have hit the ground running hoping to convince people to vote for them. According to senior Congress leaders, the party will come out with the list of candidates before April 29 when the filing of nominations in the state begins. “The party will declare its candidates at the right time. The list will be released before April 29 when the nominations begin,” state Congress president Udai Bhan said. Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda told The Indian Express that “the party high command will declare the candidates. The decision has been taken and the names will be announced, soon.” Advertisement Hooda, his wife Asha Hooda and their son and Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Hooda have actively been campaigning across the Rohtak constituency and its nearby areas for the past several days. Party sources told The Indian Express that a tussle among Congress bigwigs is going on for three seats — Rohtak, where the party is contemplating the right candidate among Bhupinder, Deepe-nder and Asha Hooda; Bhiwani-Mahendragarh, where Shruti Choudhry and Rao Dan Singh are the front runners; and, Gurugram, where the names of actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar and Capt Ajay Yadav are being considered. “Haryana is possibly the only state where the party has yet not declared any candidates despite knowing it very well that BJP is battling an intense anti-incumbency this time. The people of Haryana are fed up with the BJP government and are waiting for the polling date to throw the BJP out of power. But, the Congress is yet to declare candidates, even as a few days have been left for the nominations process to begin. Without candidates, campaigns cannot gain full momentum. The time is running out and we hope the candidates will be announced soon,” a senior party leader said. Another party leader said, “It can be a strategy not to announce its candidates till the last minute, but the Congress is fully prepared and party workers are out in the field campaigning for the party.” BJP candidates, on the other hand, have extensively been touring and campaigning in their constituencies. The party has declared candidates on all 10 seats in Haryana, INLD has declared six candidates, JJP five, and the AAP, which is contesting only one seat as per the seat-sharing arrangement with the Congress, has also declared its candidate. Advertisement In 2019, the BJP candidates won with huge margins, except in Rohtak. BJP sources said that almost all BJP candidates, especially former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar , who is contesting from Karnal; Rao Inderjit Singh from Gurgaon, Krishan Pal Gurjar from Faridabad, Ashok Tanwar from Sirsa, Naveen Jindal from Kurukshetra, Dharambir Singh from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh, Arvind Sharma from Rohtak and Ranjit Singh from Hisar, have already covered their constituencies multiple times. Chief Minister Nayab Saini and other BJP leaders are also actively touring across the state and holding public meetings. BJP candidates are, meanwhile, taking a dig at the Congress for not being able to declare its candidates. Campaigning for Banto Kataria in Ambala, former home minister Anil Vij said, “There is a shop in Ambala where baraatis are available for rent. If Congress does not have a Lok Sabha candidate, they can contact this shop.” Bhupinder Hooda, however, said, “BJP will be wiped out in the south and halved in the north. Their slogan of crossing the 400-mark this time will prove completely baseless. Several political surveys have shown the BJP losing at least 8-9 seats in Haryana, and the Congress gaining. As the voting day approaches, it will become more clear that the Congress is winning all the 10 seats in Haryana.”
Congress Yet to Field Candidates in 10 Haryana Lok Sabha Seats
