Haryana Assembly polls: Bhupinder Singh Hooda, ministers figure in Congress list

NEW DELHI: Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and several of his cabinet colleagues figure in the Congress list of 90 candidates announced tonight for all the Assembly seats in the state.

The list was released for the October 15 polls despite differences over candidates for certain seats between the Chief Minister and PCC Chief Ashok Tanwar who had reportedly offered to resign in protest against his nominees not being considered.

At the AICC briefing, party spokesman Anand Sharma feigned ignorance despite a volley of questions on a sulking Tanwar and his offer to resign. The PCC chief was also not immediately available for comments.

While Hooda is being fielded from his pocketborough of Garhi Sampla Kiloi in Rohtak district, Speaker Kuldeep Sharma will contest from Ganaur and Power Minister and AICC spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala from Kaithal.

Former Chief Minister Bansi Lal's daughter-in-law Kiran Chaudhary is the party candidate from Tosham while his son Ranbir Singh Mahendra, a former MLA and BCCI chief has been fielded from Badhra seat in Bhiwani district.

Congress ministers Savitri Jindal has been fielded from Hisar, Capt Ajay Singh Yadav from Rewari, Rao Narendra Singh from Narnaul and Geeta Bhukkal from Jhajjar-SC. The party has nominated senior leader and sitting MLA Bharat Bhushan Batra from Rohtak.

Congress is seeking a third term in Haryana, which is expected to witness a multi-cornered contest with Congress, BJP, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and some smaller parties in the fray.

However, the contest will be limited to the three big parties with others largely playing the role of spoilers.

Congress is expected to face an uphill task in the polls given the fact that it could secure just one seat Rohtak in the home district of the Chief Minister out of 10 seats in the Lok Sabha polls. INLD had won two seats while BJP had secured seven seats.