Haryana poll: Retired officers falter at first hurdle, most denied Cong, BJP ticket

Many retired bureaucrats, Army officers and judges, who were in a race for getting ticket either from the Congress or the BJP for the Haryana Assembly poll, seem to have faltered at the first hurdle. Except one, none could get the ticket from the two prominent parties of the state.

Interestingly, some of them were so confident of being nominated that they had even started their campaign in a bid to steal a march over their rivals.

Over a dozen retired IAS, IPS and HCS officers were vying for the ticket of the Congress and the BJP. However, only Chander Prakash, a retired IAS officer and former State Information Commissioner, has been fielded by the Congress from the Adampur Assembly constituency in Hisar.

Belonging to the OBC category, Prakash is considered close to former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. He reportedly wanted the ticket from Nalwa (Hisar) where OBC voters are in a considerable number. He belongs to a political family as his uncle Ramji Lal had served as a Rajya Sabha MP.

Besides him, retired IAS officers -- Vinay Singh Yadav, Vikas Yadav and Wazeer Singh Goyat -- were in the race for the Congress’ ticket from Nangal Choudhary, Narnaul (Mahendragarh) and Jind, respectively. RS Verma was among BJP ticket aspirants for Nalwa and Barwala constituencies in Hisar. However, none of them got the ticket.

Rakesh Yadav, who retired as a District and Sessions Judge in February 2023, and Colonel Aryavir (retired) were vying for the Congress ticket from Narnaul (Mahendragarh) and Kalanaur (Reserved), respectively, while retired IPS officer Subhash Yadav had applied for the Congress ticket from the Ateli constituency.

Similarly, Amarjeet Singh, an HCS officer who joined politics after taking voluntary retirement five months ago, wanted to try his luck in the electoral battle as the BJP nominee from Kalanaur (reserved) in Rohtak, but his efforts too did not bear fruit.

“A majority of the bureaucrats are greenhorns in politics as they begun working with political parties either some months before the Lok Sabha elections or after their retirement. Hence, how can any party prefer them over its senior leaders who have been associated with the party for many years. That’s why, they have been denied the ticket,” said Satbir Singh, a political analyst, adding that the winnability factor also plays a major role in elections.

A retired IAS officer said he was assured of the ticket by a senior leader, but he did not fulfil the promise. “This was a new experience and will help a lot to move ahead in politics,” he said.