INLD banks on experience; only one woman in its Haryana list

Chandigarh: The Indian National Lok Dal, which fielded candidates for all ten Lok Sabha seats in Haryana, has banked on experience and has put up lone woman contestant from Ambala.

INLD leader Ajay Chautala`s elder son Dushyant and fourth-generation leader of the Devi Lal family is the only candidate aged under 40. 26-year-old Dushyant Chautala, an alumnus of Lawrence School, Sanawar, who later graduated from California State University, US, will contest from Hisar Lok Sabha seat. INLD`s Secretary General Ashok Sherwal`s wife Kusum Bala (44) is the lone woman in the fray and she has been fielded from Ambala (reserve) constituency. Lawyer and former MP R K Anand (71), the oldest in the contest, is the party`s choice from Faridabad. Most other candidates are in the age group of 50-60 years including former Haryana Minister Jaswinder Singh Sandhu (58) from Karnal seat, former MLA Zakir Hussain (51), a Meo leader and son of late Congress leader Tayyab Hussain from Gurgaon and INLD`s sitting MLA from Nangal Choudhry Rao Bahadur Singh (58) who will contest from Mahendergarh-Bhiwani. Former minister Balbeer Saini is aged 63 and will contest from Kurukshetra while former MLA and party`s secretary Padam Dahiya (51) has jumped into fray from Sonipat while Shamsher Singh (57) is the party candidate from Rohtak. INLD has also put up Kalanwali MLA Charanjeet Singh (45), legislator of its ally SAD and a Dalit leader, from Sirsa (reserve) seat. The party claims it has tried to do the balancing act giving representation to different communities including Jats, Sikhs, Scheduled Castes, OBCs, a Muslim and a Punjabi. The upcoming elections are being fought by the INLD in the absence of their senior leaders including party president and former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and his MLA son Ajay Singh Chautala. Both the leaders were jailed last year by a CBI court in Delhi in connection with a teachers recruitment scam in the state in 1999-2000.