Voting in sixth phase, parties get ample time to weigh options
Ravinder Saini
Rohtak, March 18
With over two-month for elections in the state, political parties have got sufficient time to weigh all options comfortably before selecting their candidates for the Lok Sabha poll battle. The voting for all 10 seats in the state is scheduled in the sixth phase which will take place on May 25.
The ruling BJP has already announced its candidates for the six Lok Sabha seats, including Karnal, Sirsa, Gurugram, Faridabad, Ambala and Bhiwani-Mahendragarh, but selecting the candidates for the four remaining seats of Rohtak, Sonepat, Hisar and Kurukshetra, does not seem to be easy for it.
The INLD and AAP have declared their candidates for the Kurukshetra seat. AAP is in a poll alliance with the Congress and has fielded its former Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Gupta in Kurukshetra, the lone seat it has got from its alliance partner while the INLD has declared Ellenabad MLA Abhay Singh Chautala as its nominee for Kurukshetra.
Similarly, two other main political parties —- the Congress and the JJP—- have not yet announced their candidates. However, Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Hooda has begun his election campaign after declaring himself as the Congress candidate from Rohtak.
“The BJP was about to finalise its candidates for the four remaining Lok Sabha seats in the state before the election schedule was declared but the party high command has now got sufficient time to weigh all options again as the polling is scheduled to be held after two months. Since the party has set its target to retain all 10 seats hence it is focusing on those seats where the contest is close and any mistake in choosing the candidates may adversely affect the poll results there,” said a senior BJP leader.
He said although a meeting to contemplate over the aspirants for the party tickets was scheduled to be held in Delhi today, there was a remote possibility about any announcement of the candidates for the remaining four seats in the state after the meeting.
Another BJP leader said the Chief Minister was to hold a meeting of the party office-bearers of various cells in Kurukshetra today regarding the Lok Sabha polls but it had also been postponed keeping in view that the poll date was far away.
A Congress leader said the names of the candidates would be declared by the party high command in consultation with the state unit. “Names of prospective candidates are being discussed keeping in view multiple factors like winnability, caste equations etc. Since the polling in Haryana has been scheduled in the second last phase, hence the party high command has sufficient time to finalise the candidates,” he added.
A political analyst says main political parties usually avoid announcing candidates well before the polling due to the fear of poaching of their disgruntled leaders by opponents hence the Congress and the BJP both parties would definitely not be in a hurry to declare their candidates in this situation.
Names of candidates being discussed
Names of prospective candidates are being discussed keeping in view multiple factors such as winnability, caste equations etc. Since the polling in Haryana has been scheduled in the penultimate phase, the party high command has sufficient time to finalise the candidates. — A senior BJP leader
