Chandigarh: The BJP on Tuesday released a second list of candidates for the Haryana Assembly polls, denying tickets to two ministers and replacing its nominee for the Pehowa seat.
The list, notified by BJP national general secretary Arun Singh, has names of 21 candidates, including that of the new nominee for Pehowa. The ruling party in Haryana is yet to announce candidates for Mahendragarh, NIT Faridabad, and Sirsa seats.
In its first list of candidates announced on September 4, the BJP nominated Kamaljeet Singh Ajrana for the Pehowa seat but replaced him with Jai Bhagwan Sharma in the second list. Incumbent MLA of Pehowa and former minister Sandeep Singh has been denied re-nomination.
Ajrana is learnt to have faced stiff opposition to his candidature from some aspirants.
The BJP denied ticket to Minister Banwari Lal, who represented Bawal in the outgoing Assembly, and fielded Krishna Kumar in his place. School Education Minister Seema Trikha, the incumbent MLA of Badhkal, has also been denied re-nomination. Dhanesh Adlakha has been nominated for the seat.
However, another minister Sanjay Singh, the MLA from Sohna, has been given ticket from Nuh. The party has fielded Tejpal Tanwar from Sohna.
The ruling party also denied tickets to the sitting MLAs from Ganaur, Pataudi, Hathin and Hodal seats. A new candidate has been named for the Rai assembly segment, after incumbent legislator and Haryana BJP chief Mohan Lal Badoli made it clear that he would not contest the polls and instead work to ensure the party’s victory.
While eight women figured in the first list of candidates, the BJP’s second list has two women — Krishna Gahlawat from the Rai seat and Bimla Chaudhary from the Pataudi (SC) segment.
Bimla Chaudhary replaced Satya Prakash Jarawata who was denied renomination while Devender Kaushik has been given ticket for the Ganaur seat, replacing sitting MLA Nirmal Chaudhary.
In the Julana assembly segment, Capt Yogesh Bairagi has been fielded against Congress’ wrestler-turned-politician Vinesh Phogat while Amit Chand Mehta will contest from Ellenabad from where INLD senior leader Abhay Singh Chautala is seeking re-election.
Harinder Singh Ramrattan will take on Haryana Congress president Udai Bhan from the Hodal reserve segment. The party has fielded former ministers Krishan Kumar Bedi, Manish Grover and Om Prakash Yadav from Narwana, Rohtak and Narnaul seats, respectively.
Of the three seats from where the BJP is yet to name its candidates, party veteran and former minister Ram Bilas Sharma is a strong contender for Mahendragarh. Haryana Lokhit Party chief and BJP ally Gopal Kanda represents the Sirsa segment for which the ruling party is yet to announce a candidate.
The BJP has fielded Pawan Saini, considered close to Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, from the Naraingarh seat while Satpal Jamba has been nominated from Pundri.
Yogender Rana has been fielded from Assandh, Pradeep Sangwan from Baroda, Baldev Singh Mangiana from Dabwali seat and Naseem Ahmed from Ferozepur Jhirka. Aizaz Khan has been fielded from Punhana while Manoj Rawat will contest from Hathin.
The BJP released its first list of 67 candidates for the 90-member Assembly on September 4, fielding Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini from the Ladwa seat and rewarding several recent entrants to the party with poll tickets.
Former Haryana BJP chief Om Prakash Dhankar, who is the party’s national secretary, had been fielded from Badli while veteran party leader Anil Vij will seek re-election from his Ambala Cantt stronghold.
Shruti Choudhry, grand-daughter of former chief minister Bansi Lal, who joined the ruling party recently, is contesting from the Tosham.
After the BJP announced its first list of 67 candidates, it faced rebellion within its ranks with Minister Ranjit Singh Chautala and MLA Lakshman Dass Napa quitting the party after being denied ticket.
A few other aspirants who were also denied tickets had raised a banner of revolt.
The BJP is aiming for a hattrick in the Haryana Assembly polls to be held on October 5 but faces a tough challenge from a resurgent Congress which is looking to cash in on the anti-incumbency factor. Nayab Saini is the BJP’s chief ministerial face for the assembly polls.
The counting of votes will take place on October 8.
