Congress to take call on Delhi, Haryana candidates today

Shubhadeep Choudhury

New Delhi, April 12

The central election committee (CEC) of the Congress is expected to approve the list of candidates for Haryana and Delhi at its meeting tomorrow.

Haryana and Delhi are slated to go to the polls in Phase VI on May 25. The filing of nominations will start on April 29.

The Congress will field candidates for nine seats in Haryana and three in Delhi. Former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar is in contention for the North East Delhi seat. Other aspirants are also in line for the seat, Congress sources said.

Rajya Sabha member Deepender Hooda, who lost the Rohtak seat to BJP’s Arvind Kumar Sharma in 2019, is already holding rallies in the constituency. Speculation is rife that Hisar MP Brijedra Singh, who recently left the BJP and joined the Congress, would be fielded from Hisar by the Congress.

Ajay Singh Yadav, president of the OBC Congress, is among the contenders for the ticket for the Gurugram seat. Ajay Singh Yadav’s son Chiranjeevi Rao Yadav is the incumbent MLA from the Rewari constituency, which is one of the nine Assembly segments that comprise the Gurugram Lok Sabha constituency.

Ajay Singh Yadav, who was the runner-up in the 2019 poll from Gurugram, visited those affected by the recent school bus accident near Mahendragarh that claimed the lives of six schoolchildren. Sources, however, said that multiple names were under consideration for the Gurugram constituency.

Presided over by party president Mallikarjun Kharge, the CEC meetings are attended by party’s top leaders, including Congress parliamentary party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi.