Congress witnesses increase in ticket aspirants for reserved seats

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 16

With 2,556 candidates applying for Congress tickets across 90 Assembly constituencies in Haryana, the party has earned around Rs 3.5 crore from the application fee.

BJP going, Congress coming

The high number of aspirants reflect that the BJP is going and the Congress is coming. The screening committee will announce the candidates’ list soon. — Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Former Chief Minister

Cong bagged 7, BJP 5, JJP 4 in 2019

The Congress had won seven seats, BJP five and JJP four while Independent candidate romped home victorious on one seat among reserved constituencies in 2019 Assembly elections.

For general candidates, the fee was Rs 20,000, while for the Scheduled Castes (SC), women and Backward Class aspirants, it was fixed at Rs 5,000.

On average, there are 28 aspirants per seat. However, for the SC-reserved constituencies, there is a heavy rush, with an average of 44 ticket seekers per seat. The Nilokheri (SC) seat has the highest number of ticket aspirants at 88. It is currently represented by Independent MLA Dharampal Gonder, who recently withdrew his support from the BJP government and announced support for the Congress. However, he has not applied for the Congress ticket.

The Julana Asegment has 86 aspirants. It is currently represented by JJP’s Amarjeet Dhanda, with former BJP MLA Paraminder Singh Dhull also seeking the Congress ticket from this seat.

For the Bawani Khera (SC) seat, there are 78 aspirants. Among them are former MP Dr Sushil Kumar Indora and former Chief Parliamentary Secretary Ramkishan Fauji.

In the Garhi Sampla Kiloi constituency, former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda is the only contender. For the Hodal (SC) seat, there are just two ticket seekers — state Congress president Udai Bhan and Jitender Chandelia.

Mahendragarh and Nuh seats each have only three aspirants, including sitting MLAs Rao Dan Singh and Deputy CLP leader Aftab Ahmed.

“The high number of aspirants reflect that the BJP is going and the Congress is coming. The screening committee will announce the candidates’ list soon,” said former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Bhan said, “Winnable and strong candidates will be chosen among the aspirants.”

Surprisingly, Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala and former Union Minister and Sirsa MP Kumari Selja have not applied for the ticket from anywhere. “But it doesn’t mean they are out of consideration,” said a senior Congress leader on the condition of anonymity.

JJP MLA from Shahbad (SC), Ram Karan Kala has applied for the ticket. Former MLAs Anil Kumar Dhantori and Lehri Singh are also aspirants for this seat.

The Dadri seat presents an interesting scenario with sitting Independent MLA Sombir Sangwan, who recently announced support to the Congress, competing against three former MLAs — Maj Nirpender Singh Sangwan (retd), Jagjit Singh Sangwan, and Dharampal Singh. The Guhla (SC) and Badhra seats also have four former MLAs each as aspirants.

After Tosham MLA Kiran Choudhry switched to the BJP, the party has to choose between former CM Bansi Lal’s grandson Anirudh Chaudhary and Rajbir Singh Lala, brother of Bhiwani-Mahendragarh MP Dharambir Singh. There are 17 contenders from Uchana Kalan, including former MP Brijendra Singh. Former Deputy CM and JJP leader Dushyant Chautala is expected to contest against Congress candidate from the seat.

Former MLAs Nishan Singh and Rohita Rewri, who had recently joined the Congress during the Lok Sabha polls are aspirants from Tohana and Panipat City, respectively.

Under ED investigation, Dharam Singh Chokker and Surender Panwar have also submitted their application forms.

Former Faridabad MP Avtar Singh Bhadana has applied from Nangal Chaudhary, Punhana and NIT Faridabad. Bhadana’s interest in NIT Faridabad has made things interesting as Neeraj Sharma is a sitting Congress MLA from here and is close to Hooda.

— With inputs from Ravinder Saini, Bijendra Ahlawat.