Two Panipat seats, Ganaur set to see triangular contest

Owing to rebels, three seats on the GT Road belt — Panipat City, Panipat Rural and Ganaur — are set to witness triangular contest in the Assembly poll.

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Rebels in fray

• Congress rebel and former MLA Rohita Rewri has filed nomination as an Independent from Panipat City
• Another Congress rebel Vijay Jain has made the contest triangular on the Panipat Rural seat
• BJP rebel Devender Kadyan is in fray for the Ganaur Assembly constituency

In Panipat City Assembly constituency, the BJP has fielded sitting MLA Pramod Vij, while the Congress has placed its trust on senior leader Varinder Kumar Shah (alias Bulle Shah). Making it a triangular contest, Congress rebel and former MLA Rohita Rewri has also filed nomination as an Independent candidate.

Rewri was elected MLA from this seat in 2014 on the BJP ticket, but the party refused to give her ticket in 2019. Later, she left the BJP just before the Lok Sabha elections and joined the Congress. She was eying the Congress ticket but she was again left disheartened after Shah secured the party mandate.

Rohita and her husband Surender Rewri have a stronghold among city voters and may affect vote share of both BJP and Congress candidates, said Virender Soni, veteran journalist and political expert.

In Panipat Rural segment, earlier the contest seemed to be between the Congress and the BJP as Vijay Jain was considered to be the strongest among the 54 ticket aspirants within the Congress. However, the Congress selected Sachin Kundu. Jain, who recently left the BJP to join the Congress, also filed his nomination as an Independent.

In Gannaur Assembly constituency, the BJP has fielded Devender Kaushik, brother of former MP Ramesh Kaushik, while the Congress has fielded former Speaker Kuldeep Sharma.

Devender Kadyan was also in the race for the BJP ticket from this seat. Angry at the announcement of Kaushik’s candidature, Kadyan went on to allege that the ticket was sold for Rs 100 crore and submitted his nomination papers from Ganaur on Thursday.

Notably, thousands of people turned up for Kadyan’s rally held before he filed his nomination. Political pundits say his entry has made the electoral contest triangular and interesting in Ganaur this time.