Haryana Assembly polls: INLD announces 64 candidates in first list, Abhay Singh Chautala to recontest from Ellenabad

Chandigarh: Opposition Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) on Wednesday released its first list of 64 candidates for the Haryana Assembly polls scheduled for 21 October, with senior leader Abhay Singh Chautala seeking re-election from his Ellenabad constituency. The election committee of the party held a meeting in Delhi under the chairmanship of INLD president and former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, after which it announced the names. [caption id=“attachment_7442051” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Abhay Singh Chautala. Twitter@AbhaySChautala[/caption] Party’s state unit chief BD Dhalia said that twelve women were among the candidates whose names were announced in the list. He said the party had taken care to give representation to various sections of society and the candidates were decided accordingly. While INLD has fielded former MLA Dilbagh Singh from Yamunanagar, its former MLA Sita Ram is in the fray from Dabwali seat, where Abhay’s sister-in-law and Jannayak Janta Party’s Naina Chautala is the sitting legislator. On 25 September, OP Chautala had announced that the party would give 33 percent reservation to women in the distribution of tickets. Notably, after a feud in the Chautala family, there was a vertical split in the INLD, founded by former deputy prime minister Devi Lal, and the Jannayak Janta Party was formed by Abhay’s nephew and former Hisar MP, Dushyant Chautala. OP Chautala is serving a jail sentence in connection with a teachers’ recruitment scam but is out on parole these days. The INLD, which has been out of power in the state for 14 years now, has been going through rough times since its split. Besides, OP Chautala, his younger son Abhay Chautala is the only prominent leader left in the party now as most of its sitting MLAs and leaders have switched over to the BJP. Meanwhile, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) released its second list of 27 candidates on Wednesday, including two women. Earlier, the Mayawati-led party had announced names of 41 candidates. The polls to the 90-member assembly will be held on 21 October and results will be declared on 24 October.