On September 4, 2024, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released its first list of 67 candidates for the upcoming Haryana Assembly elections. The list includes 25 new faces and re-nominates 8 sitting ministers. Notably, 7 incumbents have had their tickets revoked. Among the 67 candidates, there are 8 women.
Key Highlights from the List
- CM Nayeem Saini will contest from the Ladwa constituency in Kurukshetra instead of Karnal. Anil Vij has been re-nominated from Ambala Cantt.
- Voting for all 90 seats in Haryana will take place in a single phase on October 5, with results announced on October 8.
- After the 2019 assembly elections, the BJP formed the government in Haryana in alliance with the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP).
Six Key Points About the Candidate List
- JJP Legislators Devender Babli, Raj Kumar Gautam, and Anoop Dhanak, who recently joined the BJP, have also been given tickets.
- Shakti Rani Sharma, the mayor of Ambala who joined the BJP three days ago, has been fielded from Kalka.
- Former MP Sunita Duggal has been given a ticket from the Ratia seat, where she was previously denied a Lok Sabha ticket.
- Deepak Hooda, former captain of the Indian Kabaddi team, is the candidate from Maham.
- Five family members of prominent leaders have also been given tickets, including Bhavya Bishnoi (son of Kuldeep Bishnoi), Shruti Chaudhary (daughter of Kiron Chaudhary), Aarti Rao (daughter of Union Minister Rao Indrajit), Sunil Sangwan (son of Satpal Sangwan), and Shakti Rani Sharma (wife of Vinod Sharma).
- Rajya Sabha MP Krishna Pal Puwar is also among the candidates.
25 New Faces in the List
The BJP has introduced 25 new candidates in this list. Among them:
- Subhash Kalshana is a new face from Shahabad (SC), nominated from the ABVP quota.
- Sandeep Singh, former minister from Pehowa, has been replaced by Sardar Kamaljeet Singh Azrana.
- Jagmohan Anand is the new candidate from Karnal.
Other new candidates include:
- Mohan Bhardana from Samalkha
- Pawan Kharkoda from Kharkhoda (AJA)
- Nikhil Madan from Sonipat
- Sunita Duggal from Ratia (SC)
- Rajinder Desujodha from Kalawali (AJA)
- Sheeshpal Kamboj from Rania
- Randhir Singh Paniyar from Nalwa
Unfilled Seats and Anticipated Alliances
- The BJP has not announced a candidate for the Sirsa seat, which was previously won by Gopal Kanda of the Haryana Lokhit Party (HLPA). Chief Minister Nayeem Singh Saini has indicated that the elections in Sirsa might be contested in alliance with Kanda.
Seats Held by BJP
The BJP has retained control over 23 seats, including:
- Narayangarh, Pundri, Assandh, Gannaur, Rai, Baroda, Julana, Narwana (SC), Dabwali, Sirsa, Ellenabad, Rohtak, Mahendergarh, Narnol, Bawal (SC), Pataudi (SC), Nuh, Firozpur Jhirka, Punhana, Hathin, Hodal (SC), Faridabad NIT, and Badkhal.
Three Seats in Nuh District
The BJP has retained all three assembly seats in the Muslim-majority Nuh district, where Congress won all three seats in the 2019 elections. There is significant local discontent following the violence in July 2023, and Congress gained an advantage in the Lok Sabha elections in the same region.
Two-Term Government and Anti-Incumbency
The BJP has been in power for two terms in Haryana. After winning a majority in the 2014 assembly elections, the party formed the government under Manohar Lal Khattar. In 2019, the BJP fell short of a majority but formed an alliance with the JJP, with Khattar remaining Chief Minister and Dushyant Chautala as Deputy CM.
Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP-JJP alliance broke, leading to Nayeem Singh Saini being appointed Chief Minister. The BJP faces the challenge of anti-incumbency as it seeks to maintain its position.
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