lok-sabha-elections

Updated: Mar 25, 2019 14:10 IST

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is finding it tricky to finalise the names of Lok Sabha candidates from Haryana. Deliberations between the party’s state unit leaders and Central Election Committee (CEC) to decide on the Haryana line up had proved inconclusive on Friday.

BJP sources said the party will retain sitting MPs Rao Inderjit Singh and Krishan Pal Gurjar from Gurgaon and Faridabad Lok Sabha seats respectively, but there is still uncertainty over Ambala, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Sonepat, Rohtak, Bhiwani-Mahendergarh, Hisar and Sirsa seats.

“Despite being in power for almost five years in Haryana, the state BJP has not been able to groom credible leaders. They hardly have candidates with stature, a reason they are struggling to make their pick for Lok Sabha seats,’’ said a Haryana watcher.

State BJP president Subhash Barala, however, asserted that the CEC will announce the candidates in the next couple of days. In 2014, the party had won seven seats out of the eight it contested on.

“The BJP central leadership wants better representation for Jats in Haryana. Jats form about 25% of the electorate and is the single largest caste in the state. Also, the proposed names from the two reserved constituencies – Ambala and Sirsa had only one candidate from Chamar caste which accounts for half of the 19% scheduled caste votes in the state,’’ said a party leader.

The names under consideration from Ambala reserved seat are singer and chairman of National Commission for Safai Karamcharis, Hans Raj Hans (Balmiki caste) and sitting MP Rattan Lal Kataria (Chamar caste). For Sirsa reserved seat, the proposed candidates are former IPS officer, V Kamaraja (Pallar caste in Tamil Nadu) and former IRS officer, Sunita Duggal (Dhanak caste). Among the four scheduled caste candidates under consideration from two seats, only Kataria comes from the influential Chamar community. The state leadership has proposed the name of sitting MP, Dharambir Singh from Bhiwani-Mahendergarh seat, the lone Jat candidate under consideration at the moment.

Sources say the name of Baba Balak Nath, the mahant of a math at Asthal Bohar in Rohtak, was proposed for the Rohtak seat while former Congress MP Arvind Sharma who joined the BJP recently is under consideration from Sonepat seat.

The state leadership has proposed the name of a Panipat-based leader, Sanjay Bhatia for the Karnal seat, minister of state for Mines and Geology, Nayab Saini from Kurukshetra, and former INLD MP Ranbir Gangwa from Hisar constituency. Gangwa had joined the BJP a couple of days ago.

Lok Sabha election 2019: All you need to know about Haryana