BJP rookies take on Cong veterans on 2 Rohtak seats

The battlelines have been drawn for the Assembly polls with the Congress and the BJP announcing their candidates on three out of the four seats in Rohtak district.

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It will be a contest between a veteran and a newcomer in Garhi Sampla-Kiloi and Kalanaur (reserved) constituencies. The BJP has fielded two young debutants - Manju Hooda, chairperson, Zila Parishad, and Renu Dabla, former chairperson, Rohtak Municipal Corporation, from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi and Kalanaur, respectively. The Congress has fielded former Chief Minister and five-time MLA Bhupinder Singh Hooda (77) from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi and three-time MLA Shakuntla Khatak (56) from Kalanaur.

The Congress stalwart Hooda first time became an MLA from Kiloi in 2000 when he defeated INLD’s Dharampal by a margin of 11,958 votes. He contested the next election from here in 2005 that was a bypoll when he was elevated to the post of Chief Minister. He registered a landslide victory in the elections by securing over 96 percent of the total votes polled. Thereafter, Hooda won all three elections in a row in 2009, 2014 and 2019 by a huge margin.

Hooda, who also served as an MP from Rohtak for four times, would address a public meeting before filing his nomination papers in Sampla town here on September 11.Manju came to limelight when she won the election of Zila Parishad (ZP) as an Independent in 2022 and switched over to BJP soon after being elected the ZP chairperson unanimously.

Similarly, Shankunta Khatak jumped into electoral battle in 2009 and won three elections consecutively by defeating the BJP’s Ram Avtar Valmiki every time. The BJP this time has pitted a new face, Renu Dabla, against Khatak.