251 candidates file nominations in Haryana

Chandigarh, Sept 25: BJP's Vandana Sharma, the younger sister of Union minister Sushma Swaraj and Congress' Savitri Jindal were among 251 candidates who filed nomination papers on Thursday for October 15 Haryana Assembly polls.

With this, a total of 346 nomination papers have been filed so far. "Congress candidate Savitri Jindal, industrialist and mother of ex-MP Naveen Jindal, has filed nomination papers from Hisar Assembly seat," state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Shrikant Walgad said.

BJP candidate Vandana Sharma filed her nomination papers from Safidon seat while INLD candidate Dushyant Chautala filed his papers from Uchana Kalan Assembly seat.

Dushyant, who is the grandson of former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, is a sitting MP from Hisar. Walgad said that the last date for filing of nomination papers is September 27 and the candidates could file their nomination papers between 11 am and 3 pm.

The scrutiny of nomination papers will be done on September 29 and candidates would be able to withdraw their candidature by October 1. The polling will be held on October 15 and counting of votes would be held on October 19.

About 1.61 crore voters are expected to cast their votes at 16,244 polling stations to be set up in the state. In the previous Assembly polls, Congress had bagged 40 seats, INLD 31, BJP 4, HJC-BL 6, SAD and BSP one each and seven seats had gone to Independents.

Though Bhupinder Singh Hooda had failed to lead the Congress to a majority in 2009, the Congress formed the government for the second term with the support of five of the six HJC-BL members who joined the ruling outfit and seven Independents.

Haryana is all set to witness a multi-cornered contest this time. Key players in the fray include Congress, BJP, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), BSP, Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC)-Haryana Jan Chetna Party (HJCP) alliance, Haryana Lokhit Party (HLP), besides the Left parties.

PTI