Haryana polls: Cong releases 3rd list of 40 candidates, fields Randeep Surjewala’s son from Kaithal

New Delhi/Chandigarh: The Congress on Wednesday released its third list of 40 candidates for the Haryana Assembly polls, fielding party MP Randeep Surjewala’s son Aditya Surjewala from Kaithal.

With this, the Congress has declared a total of 81 candidates for the polls to the 90-member assembly. The Congress has not named candidates for nine seats, fuelling speculation over a last-minute tie-up with AAP and other small outfits.

Thursday is the last day of filing of nominations.

The third list includes former deputy chief minister Chander Mohan from Panchkula, former minister Nirmal Singh from Ambala City, Akram Khan from Jagadhri, Balwan Singh Daulatpuria from Fatehabad, Ram Niwas Rara from Hisar, Pradeep Narwal from Bawani Khera (SC) and Mohammad Israil from Hathin.

Besides Aditya Surjewala, whose father has been an MLA from Kaithal, Hisar MP Jai Prakash’s son Vikas has been fielded from Kalayat, and Ambala MP Varun Chaudhary’s wife Pooja Chaudhary has entered the fray from Mulana (SC) seat. It was earlier represented by Varun Chaudhary.

From Pehowa in Kurukshetra district, the party has fielded Mandeep Singh Chatha while Gokul Setia is the Congress candidate from Sirsa, from where Haryana Lokhit Party chief Gopal Kanda is the sitting MLA.

In Ellenabad, from where INLD senior leader Abhay Singh Chautala is seeking re-election, the Congress has fielded Bharat Singh Beniwal while former MLA Ram Niwas Ghorela has been fielded from Barwala, Rakesh Kumar Kamboj from Indri, and Sumita Virk from Karnal. Another senior leader Akram Khan has been fielded from Jagadhri.

However, turncoat Independent legislators Sombir Sangwan and Randhir Gollen, who were eyeing tickets from Dadri and Pundri have not found a place in the list.

The party is yet to declare candidates for Ambala Cantt, Panipat Rural, Tigaon, Sohna, Narwana, Bhiwani, Rania, Narnaund, and Uklana.

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.

The party declared nine candidates on Sunday. It 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 was also engaged in seat-sharing talks with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for the Haryana polls, with hard bargaining going on from both sides. However, the talks hit a deadlock and the AAP has released multiple lists since then.

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.