Haryana polls: Congress releases list of 9 more candidates

The Congress has released a list of nine more candidates for the Haryana Assembly polls, fielding Brijendra Singh from Uchana Kalan and Mohit Grover from Gurugram.

With Sunday’s (September 8) names, the Congress has declared 41 candidates so far for the polls to the 90-member assembly.

Besides Brijendra Singh and Grover, the Congress has fielded Anirudh Chaudhary from Tosham, Ashok Arora from Thanesar, Kuldeep Sharma from Ganaur, Paramvir Singh from Tohana, Balram Dangi from Meham, Manju Choudhary from Nangal Chaudhary and Vardhan Yadav from Badshahpur.

Clash of cousins

The Tosham Assembly seat is all set to witness a clash between two grandchildren of former Haryana chief minister late Bansi Lal.

Cricket administrator-turned-politician Anirudh Chaudhary, who is the grandson of Bansi Lal, will cross swords with his cousin and former MP Shruti Choudhry, the BJP candidate.

Shruti Choudhry is the daughter of BJP leader Kiran Choudhry and Bansi Lal’s son, the late Surender Singh, while Anirudh Chaudhary is the son of Ranbir Singh Mahendra. Mahendra and Surender Singh were brothers.

Brijendra Singh is the son of former Union Minister Birender Singh and is set to take on former Deputy Chief Minister and sitting JJP MLA Dushyant Chautala from Uchana Kalan in Jind district.

Brijendra Singh is a former MP.

Other prominent faces

Among other prominent faces in the party’s second list, Paramvir Singh is a former minister, Dangi is the son of senior party leader Anand Singh Dangi, and Sharma is a former Assembly Speaker.

The Congress on Friday declared 32 candidates for the polls, fielding former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi, state unit chief Udai Bhan from Hodal and wrestler Vinesh Phogat from Julana.

The party had first released a list of 31 candidates and a little later, in a statement, said the CEC had approved the candidature of Balbir Singh from the Israna (reserved for the Scheduled Castes) constituency.

Singh is the incumbent MLA from Israna.

28 MLAs renominated

The grand old party has renominated all its 28 MLAs. Besides Hooda, Bhan and Phogat, the Congress has also fielded Mewa Singh from Ladwa to take on Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini.

The Congress is also engaged in seat-sharing talks with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for the Haryana polls, with hard bargaining going on from both sides.

Some Congress leaders have expressed reservations over a tie-up with the Arvind Kejriwal-led party.

Assembly elections in Haryana will be held on October 5 and the counting of votes will be undertaken on October 8.

(With agency inputs)