BJP drops 2 more ministers, 5 MLAs in 2nd Haryana list

The ruling BJP today declared its second list of 21 candidates for the October 5 Haryana Assembly elections, dropping seven sitting MLAs, including two ministers. The Aam Aadmi Party also released two lists of nine and 11 candidates.

Advertisement

37% MLAs left out by saffron party

To buck anti-incumbency, the BJP has dropped 15 of its 40 sitting MLAs (over 37%). Besides, the party has gone with 40 new faces (46%) on the 87 seats announced so far.

With this, the BJP has fielded candidates on 87 of the 90 Assembly seats, while AAP has announced 40 names. The fresh AAP lists come a day after its seat-sharing talks with the Congress failed.

Capt Yogesh Bairagi of the BJP has been pitted against Congress’ Vinesh Phogat from the Julana Assembly segment. Ministers Banwari Lal (Bawal) and Seema Trikha (Badkhal) have been replaced by Krishna Kumar and Dhanesh Adlakha, respectively. The five MLAs dropped are state chief Mohan Lal Badoli (Rai), Nirmal Rani (Ganaur), Praveen Dagar (Hathin), Jagdish Nayar (Hodal) and Satya Prakash Jrawta (Pataudi). Senior BJP leader Krishna Gahlawat has been fielded from Badoli, Devender Kaushik from Ganaur, Bimla Chaudhary from Pataudli, Manoj Rawat from Hathin and Harinder Singh Ramrattan from Hodal.

The ticket allocation for three seats — Mahendragarh, Sirsa and Faridabad (NIT) — has been put on hold. Former minister Ram Bilas Sharma, who is eyeing the Mahendragarh seat, is likely to enter the poll fray as an Independent tomorrow.

The other prominent BJP candidates named include Sanjay Singh (Nuh), Om Prakash Yadav (Narnaul), Manish Grover (Rohtak), Krishan Bedi (Narwana), Jai Bhagwan Sharma (Pehowa), and Pawan Saini (Naraingarh).

The AAP has fielded former minister Chhatar Pal Singh (Barwala), Jawahar Lal (Bawal), Krishan Bajaj (Thanesar) and Bhupendra Beniwal (Adampur).