BJP announces candidates in all 22 wards; Cong names 18 in Sonepat
Political activity has intensified in Sonepat ahead of municipal elections, with the BJP and Congress announcing their councillor candidates.
The BJP has declared its nominees for all 22 wards, fielding nine women candidates — about 41% of the total — and introducing several new faces. The party has also retained Rajiv Jain as its mayoral candidate, while the Congress has fielded Kamal Diwan for the post.
The BJP’s list includes Hari Prakash Saini (Ward 1), Mukesh Bamania (2), Surender Madaan (3), Tribhuvan Kaushik (4), Reena Saini (5), Nisha (6), Muniram Tholedar (7), Kunal Kaushik (8), Meena (9), Sanjay Thekedar (10), Sangeeta Saini (11), Sadhna Taneja (12), Mahesh Luthra (13), Kiran Chandna (14), Sanjeev Valecha (15), Navin Mangla (16), Sunita (17), Sunita Rathi (18), Anil Thakur (19), Rajkumar Sharma (20), Suman Lakra (21) and Satpal Kataria (22). The list has also triggered discussion after the party denied tickets to some aspirants, including Puneet Rai from Ward 8 and Atul Jain from Ward 16, despite the latter having already set up his campaign office. The Congress has announced candidates for 18 wards, fielding eight women. Candidates include Jai Kumar (Ward 1), Pawan Mehra (2), Anuj Chhabra (3), Bindiya Chopra (5), Sonia (6), Asha Rani (9), Satpal Kashyap (10), Kavita Saini (11), Deepak Chawla (12), Anjali (13), Ritika Galgat (15), Santosh Sharma (16), Anurag Jain (17), Sonam (18), Rajesh Malik (19), Devendra Singh (20) and Deepmala (21).
