Congress Unveils Third List of 40 Candidates for Haryana Assembly Polls

The Congress party unveiled its third list of 40 candidates for the Haryana Assembly elections on Wednesday. This list includes Aditya Surjewala, son of MP Randeep Surjewala, who will contest from Kaithal. With this announcement, the Congress has now named 81 candidates for the 90-member assembly. The party has yet to declare candidates for nine seats, which has led to speculation about a potential last-minute alliance with AAP and other smaller parties.

Key Candidates Announced

Among the notable names in the third list are former deputy chief minister Chander Mohan from Panchkula and former minister Nirmal Singh from Ambala City. Other candidates include 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. The deadline for filing nominations is Thursday.

In addition to Aditya Surjewala, Hisar MP Jai Prakash's son Vikas will contest from Kalayat. Ambala MP Varun Chaudhary's wife Pooja Chaudhary will run from the Mulana SC seat, previously represented by Varun Chaudhary. Mandeep Singh Chatha has been chosen for Pehowa in Kurukshetra district, while Gokul Setia will contest from Sirsa, currently held by Haryana Lokhit Party chief Gopal Kanda.

Strategic Seat Allocations

The Congress has fielded Bharat Singh Beniwal in Ellenabad against INLD senior leader Abhay Singh Chautala. Former MLA Ram Niwas Ghorela will contest from Barwala, Rakesh Kumar Kamboj from Indri, and Sumita Virk from Karnal. Another senior leader, Akram Khan, has been fielded from Jagadhri. However, Independent legislators Sombir Sangwan and Randhir Gollen did not secure tickets for Dadri and Pundri.

The party has yet to announce candidates for Ambala Cantt, Panipat Rural, Tigaon, Sohna, Narwana, Bhiwani, Rania, Narnaund, and Uklana. Earlier on Friday, Congress declared 32 candidates including former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi and state unit chief Udai Bhan from Hodal. Wrestler Vinesh Phogat will contest from Julana.

Renominations and New Faces

The initial list of 31 candidates included Balbir Singh for the Israna reserved constituency. Singh is the current MLA from Israna. The party also announced nine candidates on Sunday and has renominated all its 28 sitting MLAs. Besides Hooda, Bhan, and Phogat, Mewa Singh will contest from Ladwa against Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini.

The Congress had been negotiating seat-sharing with AAP for the Haryana polls but talks reached an impasse. AAP has since released multiple candidate lists. Some Congress leaders have voiced concerns about an alliance with Arvind Kejriwal's party.

Assembly elections in Haryana are scheduled for October 5 with vote counting set for October 8.