Haryana polls: Wrestlers Babita Phogat, Yogeshwar Dutt get BJP ticket
On Monday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced its first list of candidates for the Haryana Assembly elections to be held on October 21. The list of candidates for the Assembly polls included Haryana wrestlers Yogeshwar Dutt and Babita Phogat, and former hockey captain Sandeep Singh. Dutt will contest from Baroda, Phogat from Dadri, and Singh from Pehowa. Here are more details.
The list features 78 candidates for the 90-seat Haryana Legislative Assembly. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar will contest the polls from Karnal once again, and state Haryana BJP chief Subhash Barala will fight from Tohana. The announcement comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah deliberated over candidates in Delhi for over three hours along with other senior leaders.
Interestingly, Border Security Force trooper Tej Bahadur Yadav will be contesting against CM Khattar from Karnal on a Jannayak Janata Party ticket. To recall, Yadav was dismissed in 2017 after he shared a video on social media complaining about poor food quality in the force. He was also fielded by the Samajwadi Party against Modi from Varanasi, but the Election Commission rejected his nomination.
Notably, in August, Phogat, an international wrestler, had resigned from her post as a Haryana Police inspector to join the BJP in the presence of Union Minister Kiren Rijiju. Phogat, and her father Mahavir, joined the BJP on August 12. Separately, on September 26, Yogeshwar Dutt and Sandeep Singh also joined the saffron party in the presence of Haryana BJP chief Subhash Barala.
To note, the Haryana Assembly elections will be held in a single phase on October 21, same as the polls in 288-seat Maharashtra. After vote counting, the final results in both states will be declared on October 24. Earlier this month, PM Modi had kicked-off the party's Haryana poll campaign at a rally in Rohtak, followed by Maharashtra's poll campaign next week in Nashik.
1st list of BJP candidates for the Assembly elections of Haryana to be held on Oct 21 .. we have given an efficient honest Govt under the leadership of @mlkhattar for last 5 years .. Its time now to seek the blessings for a better mandate from voters .. @BJP4Haryana pic.twitter.com/o6rq82KIy5
— B L Santhosh (@blsanthosh) September 30, 2019
