Chandigarh, Oct 4 (IANS) Haryana’s regional outfit Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) on Friday released the second and the last list of 17 candidates for the Assembly elections scheduled for October 21.
It has nominated 81 candidates and its alliance partner Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has named three candidates for the 90-member Assembly.
The INLD has not declared candidates for six seats.
Out of the 81 candidates, the INLD has given tickets to 15 women.
Contrary to the INLD, its breakaway faction the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) led by Dushyant Chautala has fielded its candidates for all seats. He is contesting from Uchana Kalan in Jind district.
Dushyant parted ways with the INLD in December 2018 after a bitter split in the party and the Chautala family. Dushyant’s father, Ajay Singh Chautala, is the elder son of INLD President and former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala.
The JJP also released its last list of five candidates on Friday.
It will be a straight fight between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the main opposition Congress for the Legislative Assembly on October 21.
Political observers said that the contest between the BJP and the Congress is more or less one-sided as the former won all the 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state this year.
The Congress is dithering over its chief ministerial candidate. The main contender is newly-appointed leader of the opposition and two-time Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
The BJP, which is in the fray under the leadership of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, is also far ahead of its arch-rival as far as campaigning at the grassroots is concerned.
In the 2014 Haryana Assembly polls, the BJP won the elections with 47 seats, while the INLD and the Congress got 19 and 15 seats, respectively.
The BJP’s ally SAD and the Bahujan Samaj Party won one seat each, while Independents won five seats.
–IANS
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