BJP announces 18-member Haryana Election Committee

Ravinder Saini

Rohtak, February 20

Taking another step towards the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP on Tuesday declared its 18-member State Election Committee, which comprises former and present Central and state ministers, besides those holding organisational posts. Half the members belong to the Backward Classes (BCs) and Jat community.

Besides Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and BJP state chief Nayab Singh Saini, Union Ministers Bhupinder Yadav and Rao Inderjit, former Union Minister Ch Birender Singh, BJP parliamentary board member Sudha Yadav, national secretary Om Prakash Dhankar, state Home Minister Anil Vij, School Education Minister Kanwar

Pal Gujjar, and former ministers Ram Bilas Sharma and Capt Abhimanyu are part of the committee. Newly elected Rajya Sabha MP Subhash Barala, state general secretary (organisation) Phanindra Nath Sharma and general secretary MLA Mohan Lal Kaushik are also part of the committee.

BJP national vice-president Saudaan Singh, state incharge Biplab Deb and national secretary Surendra Nagar are the special invitees while Usha Priyadarshi, state president of the party’s Mahila Morcha, has been made part of the committee as an ex-officio member. The Ahirwal region (comprising the districts of Gurugram, Rewari and Mahendragarh) seems to be a priority with the party as four leaders — Bhupinder Yadav, Rao Inderjit, Sudha Yadav and Ram Bilas Sharma — from this area have been given the berth in the committee. The party had received good support from the region in the past two General election.

After winning at both Gurugram and Bhiwani-Mahendragarh in the 2019 LS poll, the party also performed well in the Assembly elections held the same year. It had managed to win eight out of 11 Assembly seats in Gurugram, Rewari and Mahendragarh districts, and this played a vital role in the formation of the BJP-led government for the second time in the state.

The BJP has also tried to woo Jat voters by selecting four leaders from the community — Ch Birender Singh, Om Prakash Dhankar, Capt Abhimanyu and Subhash Barala — as the Jats constitute a significant part of the farming community.