Some of the BJP and Congress leaders who had entered the election fray in Haryana after being denied a ticket by their parties on Monday withdrew their nominations for the October 5 polls.
After the last date of withdrawal of nominations on Monday, as many as 1,031 candidates were left in the fray from 90 assembly seats in the state.
While over 1,559 candidates had filed nominations, after scrutiny 1,221 nominations were found valid, and of these, 190 candidates withdrew their nominations, leaving 1,031 in the race.
As the window for withdrawal of nominations was set to close on Monday, senior party leaders reached out to many of these rebel candidates and persuaded them to back out.
Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini met BJP leader Rajiv Jain, who had entered the contest against the party nominee in Sonipat.
After being persuaded by the CM, Jain, whose wife Kavita is a senior leader and a former minister, withdrew from the contest.
Former Deputy Assembly Speaker Santosh Yadav, who had entered the contest from Ateli in Mahendragarh district, also decided to withdraw from the race after being persuaded by BJP leaders.
However, BJP’s Kurukshetra MP Naveen Jindal’s mother Savitri Jindal, who was an aspirant for a party ticket for the Haryana Assembly elections but did not get one, is in the fray as an Independent candidate from the Hisar seat, from where senior BJP leader Kamal Gupta is seeking re-election.
For the Congress, senior leader and former minister Sampat Singh withdrew his nomination from the Nalwa seat while another leader Ram Kishen ‘Fauji’ withdrew from the race from the Bawani Khera segment.
From Ambala City, former MLA Jasbir Malaur withdrew from the contest against Congress nominee and former Minister Nirmal Singh. However, Nirmal Singh’s daughter Chitra Sarwara, a Congress rebel, continues to be in the race from the Ambala Cantt seat.
Chief Minister Saini had on Sunday also managed to persuade party senior leader Ram Bilas Sharma, who had filed nominations from Mahendragarh, against contesting.
After meeting the veteran leader, Mr Saini had said Sharma is a beacon of light for the Haryana BJP.
The CM had said that with Sharma’s blessings, the Bharatiya Janata Party is going to form the government with a full majority in Haryana for the third time.
On Monday after meeting Rajiv Jain and persuading him against contesting, Saini described him as a strong soldier and dedicated leader of BJP in Sonipat. Saini said Jain has decided to strengthen the BJP by withdrawing his nomination.
Meanwhile, Haryana’s Chief Electoral Officer, Pankaj Agarwal said 1,031 candidates are going to contest assembly elections.
Providing district-wise details, he said there are now 89 candidates contesting Hisar, 17 from Panchkula district, 39 from Ambala, 40 from Yamunanagar, 43 from Kurukshetra, 53 from Kaithal, 55 from Karnal, 36 from Panipat, 65 from Sonipat, 72 from Jind, 47 from Gurugram, 21 from Nuh, 33 from Palwal, and 64 candidates from Faridabad district, among others.
Those who withdrew their nominations includue five candidates were from Panchkula, four from Ambala, five from Yamunanagar, 15 from Kurukshetra, 15 from Kaithal, 10 from Karnal, six from Panipat, seven from Sonipat, 13 from Jind and six from Fatehabad.
Twelve were from Sirsa, 23 from Hisar, three from Dadri, 13 from Bhiwani, four from Rohtak, nine from Jhajjar, nine from Mahendragarh, three from Rewari, 15 from Gurugram, two from Nuh, four from Palwal, and seven from Faridabad.
Voting will take place on October 5, from 7 am to 6 pm, while votes will be counted on October 8, with the election results being declared on the same day, Agarwal said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
