Congress Faces Rebellion In Haryana, Several Enter Poll Fray As Independents After Denied Ticket

Hours after the announcement of the final list for the Haryana polls, the Congress faced a rebellion as some of its leaders decided to enter the poll fray as independents after being denied a party ticket.

File Photo. (ANI)

Haryana Assembly Polls: The Congress on Thursday announced the names of eight more candidates for the Haryana Assembly election. It left the Bhiwani seat for the Communist Party of India (Marxist), as it accounted for all 90 seats in the state. Thursday was the last day for filing nominations for the polls, which are set to be held on October 5.

Hours after the announcement of the final list for the Haryana polls, the grand old party faced a rebellion as some of its leaders decided to enter the poll fray as independents after being denied a party ticket. Haryana is scheduled to go to the polls on October 5, and the counting of votes will be held on October 8. 

The list of senior leaders of the opposition party who have decided to contest the polls as independents includes former state minister Sampat Singh from Nalwa and former MLAs Lalit Nagar from Tigaon and Sharda Rathore from Ballabhgarh. Other aspirants who have entered the poll race as independents include Chitra Sarwara (Ambala Cantonment) and Rohita Rewri (Panipat City).

After the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress too is facing resentment in Haryana from those who have been denied tickets. Former MLA Ram Kishan "Fauji,"  a ticket aspirant from Bawani Khera, has also filed his nomination as an independent.

After being denied a ticket to contest the Haryana polls, some of the aspirants broke down. A teary-eyed Lalit Nagar said that even though he had worked hard to strengthen the grand old party in Haryana, he was "stabbed in the back".

While addressing a gathering of his supporters in Faridabad's Tigaon, he said, "I had invited all of you thinking that I would perform a 'havan' and then go to file my nomination as a Congress candidate. But some of our enemies have conspired and attempted to commit my political murder," as quoted by news agency PTI. Lalit Nagar was expecting to get a ticket from the Tigaon Assembly segment, but the Congress has fielded a new face, Rohit Nagar, from the constituency.

Rathore and Jitender Kumar Bharadwaj also expressed their agony after the party decided not to field them in the assembly polls. Congress also denied a ticket to the daughter of former minister Nirmal Singh, Sarwara. Reacting to the party's decision, she said that she finds it difficult to accept that the party has not fielded her from Ambala Cantonment, despite "being way ahead in various surveys that the party conducted to select its candidate".

"I was working hard in the constituency and getting good support from people. I do not know why I was ignored," Sarwara said. Six-time MLA and senior BJP leader Anil Vij is seeking re-election from Ambala Cantonment. In the last Assembly polls too, Sarwara had contested from Ambala Cantonment as an independent after being denied a ticket by the Congress. She had lost the contest to Vij.

Lalit Nagar told his supporters that he was hoping to get a ticket, but "some conspirators stabbed me in the back".

Rathore, a former MLA and a ticket hopeful from Ballabhgarh, also broke into tears in front of her supporters after she was not picked by the Congress. Her supporters alleged that she was "betrayed" by the party. Resentment also came to the fore in the Sohna Assembly segment in Gurugram, where senior party leader Bharadwaj was denied a ticket.

"Sorry friends, today, service, dedication, and devotion have lost," Bharadwaj posted in Hindi on a social media platform. The Congress has announced the candidature of new party joinee Rohtash Khatana, who was associated with the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) previously, from Sohna.

(With PTI Inputs)