BJP declares candidates for 6 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana; re-nominates sitting MPs Rao Inderjit, Dharambir, Krishan Pal Gurjar

Chandigarh, March 13

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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced its candidates for six Lok Sabha seats out of the 10 in Haryana on Wednesday, fielding former CM Manohar Lal Khattar from Karnal and former MP Ashok Tanwar from Sirsa.

Khattar quit as the chief minister a day back as the party effected a major shake-up in the state leadership. Hours before BJP announced his name in its second list for the Lok Sabha elections, Khattar quit as the MLA from Karnal as well.

Tanwar, who recently switched over from AAP, has been fielded by BJP from Sirsa, which is now represented by Sunita Duggal. The current Karnal MP is Sanjay Bhatia.

In the Ambala-SC parliamentary seat, the BJP has fielded Banto Kataria. The seat has been lying vacant since the death of her husband and former Union Minister Rattan Lal Kataria last year.

The party re-nominated its sitting MPs in Gurugram, Bhiwani-Mahendragarh and Faridabad — Rao Inderjit Singh, Dharambir Singh and Krishan Pal Gurjar, respectively.

Hours before he was named as the BJP candidate for the Karnal Lok Sabha seat, Khattar announced he was resigning as the MLA from the Karnal assembly segment.

Nayab Singh Saini took oath as the new chief minister of the state on Tuesday, hours after the surprise resignation by Khattar and his council of ministers from their posts.

The BJP won all 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana in the last general elections held in 2019.

The other four seats where the party has yet to name its candidates are Rohtak, Sonepat, Hisar and Kurukshetra. Saini, the sitting MP from Kurukshetra, will have to fight elections for an assembly seat to continue as the chief minister.

BJP MP from Hisar Brijendra Singh resigned from the party’s primary membership and the Lok Sabha on Sunday and joined the Congress.