BJP names third candidate for Haryana Rajya Sabha election; Satish Nandal challenges Hooda's turf in race

Adding colour to the Rajya Sabha election, BJP's Haryana vice-president Satish Nandal, a construction businessman, filed his nomination papers as the third candidate here on Thursday.

The party spent the entire last evening and this morning weighing the options of backing a second candidate.

He was among the top contenders, along with Haryana Lokhit Party's Gopal Kanda, another BJP office bearer Archana Gupta, and a real estate developer.

Nandal, a Jat, hails from the Garhi-Sampla-Kiloi Assembly segment in Rohtak district, currently represented by former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

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Nandal, a former INLD leader, is considered a key political rival of Hooda. He unsuccessfully contested three consecutive assembly elections from Garhi-Sampla-Kiloi against Hooda—in 2009 and 2014 as an INLD candidate and in 2019 as a BJP nominee.

Considered close to former minister Manish Grover, an ally of ex-Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Nandal played a key role in mediating with the family of ASI Sandeep Lather, who committed suicide in Ladhaut village in Rohtak in October last year, ensuring that their grievances were addressed and the postmortem was conducted.

Nandal’s son, Sanchit Nandal, also contested the Rohtak Mayor election in 2018 as an INLD candidate but lost. His participation, however, reportedly helped BJP candidate Manmohan Goyal secure victory by splitting votes, as claimed by Grover recently.

Following this, Nandal formally joined the BJP and has since been actively involved in party affairs in Rohtak. The election will be held on March 16.