khattar-to-shelja-haryana-s-big-guns-in-poll-fray

The fate of 223 candidates in Haryana's 10 Lok Sabha seats and assembly by-poll fray will be decided tomorrow as the state will vote. Big guns such as former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Congress' Kumari Selja are also in the poll battlefield. 

 

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini is contesting the Karnal byelection.

 

Among these 207 are men and 16 women nominees with over 2 crore population of the state eligible to cast vote. 

 

The BJP had won all 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana in the 2019 general elections. 

 

For the Lok Sabha elections, Union ministers Rao Inderjit Singh and Krishan Pal Gurjar, former chief minister Manohar Lal, and Congress heavyweights Kumari Selja and Deepender Singh Hooda are among the candidates. 

 

Khattar, the BJP candidate from Karnal, is facing Haryana Youth Congress president Divyanshu Budhiraja. 

 

Haryana is witnessing a direct fight between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress on most seats. However, seats like Hisar are witnessing a multi-cornered contest. 

 

From Hisar, Power Minister Ranjit Singh Chautala, an Independent MLA who joined the BJP ahead of the polls, is pitted against two members of the Chautala clan - JJP's Naina Chautala and INLD's Sunaina Chautala. Jai Prakash from Congress is also in the fray. 

 

The BJP has fielded industrialist and former Congress MP Naveen Jindal from Kurukshetra. He is facing AAP's state unit chief Sushil Gupta and INLD's Abhay Singh Chautala. 

 

Union minister Inderjit Singh and Krishan Pal Gurjar are seeking re-election from Gurugram and Faridabad seats, respectively. The Congress has fielded its senior leader Raj Babbar from Gurugram. 

 

Congress' Kumari Selja and BJP's Ashok Tanwar are contesting from Sirsa.

 

In Rohtak, Deepender Singh Hooda is up against BJP's Arvind Sharma. 

 

Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have also fielded their candidates in the Lok Sabha polls. JJP's 10, BSP's nine, and INLD's seven candidates are contesting the polls. 

 

A few sitting MLAs are also in the fray, including INLD's Kurukshetra candidate Abhay Singh Chautala. Congress' sitting MLAs Varun Chaudhary and Rao Dan Singh are contesting from Ambala and Bhiwani-Mahendragarh seats, respectively.

 

BJP MLA Mohan Lal Badoli is contesting from Sonipat and JJP's Naina Chautala is from Hisar. 

 

Saini, who is also the state BJP chief and the sitting Kurukshetra MP, was sworn in as the chief minister on March 12, replacing Khattar. 

 

There are nine candidates in the fray for the bypoll which was necessitated by Khattar's resignation as MLA.