As the battle line has been drawn for the Lok Sabha Elections- 2024 and Haryana will go to polls in a single phase on May 25, the political activities have gathered momentum in the State.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has declared its candidates on all the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana, while the main opposition Congress and other regional parties like Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) and Indian National LoK Dal (INLD) are still brainstorming over their choice of candidates.
BJP had recently announced its list of candidates for all the 10 Parliamentary seats in Haryana. It has fielded Naveen Jindal from Kurukshetra, Ranjit Singh Chautala from Hisar, Mohan Lal Badoli from Sonipat, Arvind Kumar Sharma from Rohtak, Banto Kataria, wife of Ratan Lal Kataria from the Ambala-SC, Rao Inderjit Singh from Gurgaon, Dharambir Singh from Bhiwani-Mahendergarh, former Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar from Karnal, Ashok Tanwar from Sirsa-SC and Krishan Pal Gurjar from Faridabad parliamentary constituency.
Interestingly, six out of 10 contesting candidates have past association with the main opposition Congress party.
Few days ago, Industrialist and Senior Congress leader Naveen Jindal, the chairperson of Jindal Steel and Power had joined BJP hours before his candidature was announced. On Congress ticket, Jindal had become MP for the first time from Kurukshetra in 2004 and later for the second time in 2009. In the Kurukshetra Lok Sabha seat, he lost the election in 2014 and did not contest in 2019. The two-time Congress MP is contesting from Kurukshetra for the BJP this time.
BJP has also fielded Ranjit Singh Chautala, an Independent MLA from Rania segment and a cabinet minister in Haryana Government, from Hisar Lok Sabha within hours of inducting him into the party fold in Sirsa district. Earlier, Chautala was with the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), Janata Dal and the Congress.
Chautala, 79, who is the son of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal and brother of Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) chief and former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, has been a cabinet minister in the Haryana government since October 2019. In 1990, he became Rajya Sabha MP and is a two-time MLA (1987 and 2019). Chautala had contested the 2019 Haryana assembly election from Rania constituency as an Independent candidate. He was a minister in the BJP-led Manohar Lal Khattar government, and was retained in the Nayab Saini government. After securing Hisar Lok Sabha Constituency ticket from BJP, he resigned from Haryana Assembly.
BJP has fielded sitting MP Rao Inderjit Singh from Gurgaon. He was an MLA in the Haryana assembly on Congress ticket for four terms, beginning in 1977. From 1982 to 1987, he was a provincial Minister of State responsible for Food and civil supplies. Rao Inderjit had represented Gurgaon seat for a record five times. He was first elected to the Parliament in 1998 on a Congress ticket and switched to BJP before the 2014 polls. He won elections in 2014 and 2019.
Additionally, BJP has reaffirmed its faith in incumbent MP Dharambir Singh by nominating him once again for the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh seat. This marks Singh’s third consecutive Lok Sabha election as the BJP candidate, having emerged victorious in both the 2014 and 2019 polls. In 2014, Dharambir Singh, who had earlier associated with the Janata Dal, Congress, had joined BJP after resigning from assembly membership from Sohna (Gurugram) just before the Lok Sabha elections. A four-time legislator and a Minister in the Devi Lal Government, Dharambir Singh had first time jumped into the fray on the Lok Dal ticket from Tosham against the then heavyweight Congress leader Bansi Lal in 1987 assembly elections. In the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, Dharambir Singh contested against Bansi Lal’s son Surender Singh (of the Haryana Vikas party) from Bhiwani on Congress ticket but none of them succeeded. INLD candidate Ajay Chautala romped home while Dharambir and Surender remained second and third, respectively. In the 2000 Assembly poll, Dharambir managed to win by defeating Surender from Tosham. Thereafter, he did not lose any election and successfully contested two Assembly poll from Badhra (Bhiwani) in 2005 and Sohna (Gurugram) in 2009 on the Congress ticket and two Lok Sabha elections on the BJP ticket from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh seat in 2014 and 2019.
Ashok Tanwar, once considered close to former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, joined the BJP last month. A Dalit leader, Tanwar is a former Sirsa MP and a former Haryana Congress president who resigned from the party in 2019. He switched over to the Trinamool Congress in November 2021 and embraced AAP in April 2022. After Joining BJP last month, he is again contesting from Sirsa.
BJP re-nominated outgoing MP Dr Arvind Sharma from Rohtak Lok Sabha constituency. Sharma romped home in the Lok Sabha poll from Karnal on the Congress ticket in 2004 and 2009. A dentist by profession, he left the Congress in 2014 to join BSP, which had named him the party’s CM candidate from Haryana. He lost the assembly election and in 2019, joined the BJP, defeating Deepender Singh Hooda of the Congress from Rohtak. This time, BJP has trusted Sharma to win the Rohtak LS constituency, considered a Congress stronghold.
Congress is yet to declare its list of candidates for the state. Talking to media persons, Senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that he will not contest parliamentary election. The party central leadership wants his son Deepender Hooda to contest Lok Sabha election, he added. Hooda further said that Kumari Selja and Randeep Singh Surjewala are senior party leaders and he would be happy if they contested the election. Party would soon announce its candidate for all nine seats, he added. The Aam Aadmi Party, which is contesting in Haryana jointly with the Congress under INDI Alliance, has fielded its State Unit Chief Sushil Gupta in Kurukshetra.
