Haryana polls: Turncoats, family members in BJP's 1st list

Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday fielded Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini from the Ladwa seat, shifting him from Karnal, and rewarded several recent entrants to the party with poll tickets as it released the first list of 67 candidates for the elections to the 90-member assembly.

Members of some of the prominent political families also find their names in the list released a day before the nomination process starts, with the party trying to accommodate many senior leaders as well.

Eight women also figure in the first list of candidates. More than half of BJP's 41 MLAs in the state have been renominated.

Former Haryana BJP chief Om Prakash Dhankar, who is the party's national secretary, has been fielded from Badli while veteran party leader Anil Vij will seek re-election from his Ambala Cantt stronghold.

Devender Singh Babli, who switched over to the BJP from the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) a few days ago, as well as Sanjay Kablana and Shruti Choudhry, who joined the ruling party recently, will contest from the Tohana, Beri and Tosham seats, respectively.

Shruti is the granddaughter of former Haryana chief minister Bansi Lal and the daughter of senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Kiran Choudhry.

Also, Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh's daughter Aarti Singh Rao will contest from Ateli.

A few of Rao Inderjit's loyalists have also been rewarded with tickets from south Haryana.

Former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal's grandson Bhavya Bishnoi has been re-nominated from his Adampur constituency. Bhavya is the son of senior BJP leader Kuldeep Bishnoi.

In Karnal, which is currently represented in the Assembly by Chief Minister Saini, the BJP has fielded senior leader Jagmohan Anand who is considered close to Union Minister and former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

Ladwa, where the chief minister will contest, falls in the Kurukshetra district from where 54-year-old Saini remained an MP from 2019-2024.

Senior BJP leader and ex-minister Capt Abhimanyu, and former Sirsa MP Sunita Duggal have been fielded from the Narnaund and Ratia (SC) segments, respectively.

Notably, O P Dhankar and Capt Abhimanyu were ministers during the BJP's first term in Haryana from 2014-2019, but both lost the 2019 polls.

Rajya Sabha MP Krishan Lal Panwar has been fielded from the Israna (SC) seat.

Ambala Mayor Shakti Rani Sharma, who switched over to the ruling party from the Haryana Janchetna Party recently, will contest from Kalka while Assembly Speaker Gian Chand Gupta will seek re-election from Panchkula.

Aseem Goel has been re-nominated by the BJP from his Ambala City Assembly seat.

Manju Hooda, Rohtak Zila parishad chairperson, will enter the election fray from the Garhi Sampla-Kiloi seat, where Congress stalwart and former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is the sitting MLA.

State minister Ranjit Singh Chautala has not been fielded from the Rania seat in Sirsa district. He was hoping to contest from this seat but the BJP fielded Shishpal Kamboj instead.

Ranjit had resigned as Independent MLA from Rania ahead of the Lok Sabha polls to join the BJP and fought the Hisar parliamentary seat unsuccessfully.

A few sitting legislators, including minister Sanjay Singh and former minister Sandeep Singh, have not found a mention in the first list of BJP candidates.

Former minister Vipul Goel has been fielded from Faridabad where Narender Gupta is the sitting MLA.

Haryana ministers Kanwar Pal, Kamal Gupta, Jai Prakash Dalal, Mahipal Dhanda, Abhe Singh Yadav and Mool Chand Sharma's names also figure in the list and they have been fielded from the segments they represent.

Former Rohtak MP Arvind Sharma has been fielded from Gohana.

The BJP fielded senior leader Ranbir Gangwa, shifting him from his present Nalwa seat to Barwala.

Another JJP rebel Ram Kumar Gautam, who also recently switched sides, has been fielded from Safidon while former BJP MP from Rohtak Arvind Sharma will enter the fray from Gohana.

Among the new faces fielded are some entrants from other parties -- Devender Singh Babli (Tohana), Ram Kumar Gautam (Safidon), Shakti Rani Sharma (Kalka), Subhash Kalsana (Shahabad-SC), Kamaljeet Singh Ajrana (Pehowa), Manmohan Bhadana (Samalkha), Pawan Kharkhoda (Kharkhoda-SC), Nikhil Madan (Sonipat), Devender Attri (Uchana Kalan), Shishpal Kamboj (Rania), Anil Dahina (Kosli), Mukesh Sharma (Gurgaon), Tejpal Tanwar (Sohna) and Gaurav Gautam (Palwal).

Sunil Sangwan, a former jail superintendent, who joined the BJP ahead of the polls, has been fielded from Charkhi Dadri.

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.

Saini is the BJP's chief ministerial face for the assembly polls.

The counting of votes will take place on October 8.