Congress releases list of candidates for Haryana polls; Hooda fielded from Garhi Sampla Kiloi, Vinesh Phogat to contest from Julana

The Congress party on Friday released its first list of 31 candidates for the upcoming Haryana assembly elections that are scheduled for October 5. Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has been fielded from Garhi Sampla Kiloi and Vinesh Phogat will contest from Julana.

State Congress President Udai Bhan is set to contest the election from Hodal. In Ladwa, Mewa Singh will face the current Chief Minister and BJP candidate, Nayab Saini.

Earlier today, wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia joined the grand old party. Punia has appointed working chairman of All India Kisan Congress.

Congress conducted a crucial meeting of the Central Election Committee (CEC) of the party in the run-up to the state polls at AICC headquarters in Delhi today.

The meeting was chaired by Indian National Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and was attended by Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress General Secretary (Organisations) KC Venugopal.

Senior party leaders, including Ajay Maken, Salman Khurshid, Manickam Tagore, and other leaders of the Haryana Congress, were also present in the meeting.

A CEC meeting was held in Delhi earlier this week to discuss ticket allocation for the Haryana polls. The meeting was chaired by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, LoP in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi was present in the meeting along with other members of CEC.

Earlier, AICC in-charge of Haryana Deepak Babaria confirmed ongoing seat-sharing talks with Aam Aadmi Party in the state and said that apart from the AAP, INDIA bloc partners, including the Communist Party of India (CPIM) and the Samajwadi Party, have also approached them to fight the assembly elections together in the state.

The counting of votes for Haryana Assembly elections is scheduled on October 8.