Haryana Assembly elections: BJP announces 12 candidates in final list for upcoming polls; Gurgaon MLA among four denied tickets

Chandigarh: The ruling BJP on Wednesday night announced the names of the remaining 12 candidates for the upcoming Haryana Assembly polls, with the Gurgaon legislator being among four sitting MLAs denied tickets. The final list also dashed the hopes of state minister Rao Narbir Singh, who was denied a ticket from his Badshahpur constituency in Gurgaon district, but was hopeful that the party may adjust him on another seat. [caption id=“attachment_3975521” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar. PTI[/caption] Earlier, when the Bharatiya Janata Party released its first list of 78 candidates, ministers Rao Narbir  and Vipul Goel (Faridabad) were among eight sitting legislators who were denied a re-nomination. The BJP has 48 legislators in the 90-member Haryana Assembly. With the second and final list out, a total of 12 MLAs have been denied a ticket for the upcoming polls. In the second list, the party has denied a ticket to Panipat City MLA Rohita Rewri, in whose place Pramod Viz has been fielded. From Gurgaon, Umesh Aggarwal failed to get a re-nomination and Sudhir Singla got the ticket. Notably, Aggarwal did not share good equations with Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. From Kosli in Rewari district, sitting legislator Bikram Singh Yadav has been replaced by Laxman Yadav, while Sunil Musepur replaces sitting legislator Randhir Kapriwas from the Rewari seat. On the Naraingarh seat, the BJP has fielded Surendar Rana. This Assembly constituency was represented by the BJP’s Nayab Singh Saini who was elected to the Lok Sabha this year from the Kurukshetra parliamentary constituency. The other seven seats are represented by the Opposition members. From these seats, the candidates fielded by BJP include three women. From Ganaur, Nirmal Choudhary will enter the fray, Meena Narwal from Kharkhoda reserved seat, Dudaram Bishnoi from Fatehabad, actress Sonali Phogat from Adampur, Shashiranjan Parmar from Tosham, Shamsher Kharkada from Meham and Khattar’s aide Deepak Singla from Palwal. In the outgoing House, Tosham, Meham, Palwal and Adampur are represented by senior Congress leaders Kiran Choudhary, Anand Singh Dangi, Karan Singh Dalal and Kuldeep Bishnoi. With the announcement of candidates for all the 90 seats, speculations were put to rest that the party may accommodate ministers Vipul Goel and Rao Narbir Singh, both of whom were denied re-nomination, on other seats. Rao Narbir had met Khattar in the morning and his supporters had exuded hope that he would be accommodated on another seat. Earlier in the day, while speaking at a Swachhta campaign function in Badshahpur in Gurugram, Khattar indicated that luck plays a part in candidate selection. Rao Narbir was also present in that event. The BJP had won 47 seats in the 2014 assembly polls and after its win in the Jind bypolls earlier this year, the party’s strength rose to 48. The BJP has set a target of winning 75 plus seats this time. Polls will be held on 21 October and results will be declared on 24 October. With filing of nominations closing on Friday, the BJP is the only party to have announced candidates to all seats.