Nominations for Haryana assembly elections have started. Meanwhile, a meeting of the Congress Central Election Committee has been called in New Delhi today (Friday, 06 September) evening. All the big leaders including party president Mallikarjun Kharge will be present in this meeting but there is suspense over Rahul Gandhi’s participation in this meeting as he has to leave for America. It is believed that in today’s Central Election Committee meeting, Congress can decide candidates for 24 more seats. Let us tell you that the party has decided the candidates for 66 seats but it has not been announced yet.
An NDTV report citing sources says that Congress may announce the names of 24 candidates today. However, the 66 names finalised by the party are being told privately to prepare for the elections. The party is not announcing all 66 names for two reasons. First, the party fears that after the announcement of the names, the dissatisfied leaders may revolt or resort to sabotage and the second reason is that a final consensus has not yet been reached with AAP on seat sharing.
According to sources, all senior Congress leaders including former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupendra Singh Hooda have agreed to form an alliance with AAP and are ready to give five seats to AAP but AAP is not ready to accept less than 10 seats. Aam Aadmi Party is currently adopting a wait and watch policy. On the other hand, Arvind Kejriwal is also being awaited to come out of jail so that the alliance can be given a concrete shape. The last date for filing nominations in Haryana is 12 September.
According to sources, Congress may cut the tickets of 10 sitting MLAs this time. Apart from this, Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia are sure to get tickets. Both of them are joining Congress today. In view of the possible alliance with AAP, Congress is also deliberating on leaving some seats in urban areas, where it seems that AAP’s vote bank may be more. According to Congress sources, the party is considering not giving importance to party-hoppers this time.
Let us tell you that on Thursday, there was a deep discussion on the alliance with AAP. The Congress sub-committee formed for the alliance in Haryana consulted with many senior leaders on this. The sub-committee includes leaders like state AICC in-charge Deepak Babaria, T.S. Singhdev and Ajay Maken. However, some party leaders have objected to the alliance with the Arvind Kejriwal-led party, while some leaders are in favor of an alliance with AAP to prevent division of votes. Meanwhile, SP President Akhilesh Yadav has also advised Congress to sacrifice one or two seats if it forms an alliance with AAP. Voting for 90 assembly seats in Haryana will be held on October 5 and counting of votes will be held on October 8.
