Haryana polls: 360 nominations rejected in scrutiny

After the scrutiny of nomination papers, a total of 1,565 candidates remained in the fray for Haryana assembly polls slated for October 15. Giving this information here today, Chief Electoral Officer Shrikant Walgad said among 1,565 candidates, 1,403 are male contestants. During the scrutiny, 360 nominations were rejected. Candidates would be able to withdraw their candidature by October 1, after which the final picture of total candidates in the fray will be clear.

Polling will be held on October 15 and counting of votes would take place on October 19. About 1.61 crore people are eligible to cast vote in the polls, and 16,244 polling stations would be set up in the state. In the assembly elections five years ago, Congress had won 40 seats, INLD 31, BJP four, HJC-BL six, SAD and BSP one each and seven seats had gone to Independents. Though Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had failed to lead the Congress to a clear majority in 2009, his Congress party formed the government for the second term with the support of five of the six HJC-BL members who joined the ruling outfit and seven Independents.

Haryana is set to witness a multi-cornered contest this time. Key players in the fray include Congress, BJP, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), BSP, Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC)-Haryana Jan Chetna Party (HJCP) alliance, Haryana Lokhit Party (HLP), besides the Left parties. BJP is testing electoral waters in Haryana on its own for the first time by fielding candidates in all 90 assembly seats. Earlier, the party had always entered the poll arena in the state in alliance with some regional outfits.

Besides Hooda, the key contestants include Ajay Singh Yadav (Cong), Kiran Choudhary (Cong), ML Khattar (BJP), Anil Vij (BJP), Abhay Singh Chautala (INLD), MP Dushyant Chautala (INLD), former union minister Venod Sharma (Haryana Jan Chetna Party), Kuldeep Bishnoi (HJC), Maratha Virender Verma (BSP) and Gopal Kanda (Haryana Lokhit Party).