Lok Sabha Elections 2024: The Congress party on Thursday announced eight candidates for Haryana for the Lok Sabha polls. The party fielded sitting MP Deepender Singh Hooda from Rohtak. The other seven candidates include Varun Choudhary from Ambala-SC, Kumari Selja from Sirsa-SC, Jai Prakash from Hisar, Divyanshu Budhiraja from Karnal, Satpal Brahmachari from Sonipat, Rao Dan Singh from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh and Mahendra Pratap from Faridabad.
Congress faced criticism over delay in candidates’ announcement
The names of candidates came as over the past several days, Congress’ rivals have targeted it over alleged delay in the announcement of candidates, saying it was running away from the contest. Speaking to reporters in Karnal recently, Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini had said the opposition party is holding meetings after meetings but is unable to firm up candidates in Haryana for the Lok Sabha polls. Some other leaders of the Congress’ rival parties have claimed there is infighting in the party’s state unit which is delaying the announcement of candidates.
Bhupinder Singh Hooda takes dig at BJP
Meanwhile, former Haryana Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, took a swipe at the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) slogan of crossing the 400 mark in the Lok Sabha elections and said that the ruling party will be “wiped” out in the South and “halved” in the North. “BJP will be wiped out in the South and will be halved in the North,” he told news agency ANI.
Lok Sabha Elections in Haryana
In Haryana, voting for all 10 parliamentary seats will be held in a single phase, scheduled for the sixth phase on May 25. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in the state, the BJP swept the state, capturing all 10 seats. In the 2014 elections, the BJP won 7 seats, while the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) won 2 seats and the Congress secured only one seat. The first phase of polling for the 18th Lok Sabha elections was held on Friday. The polling was held in 108 parliamentary constituencies spread over 21 states and Union Territories. The next round of voting will be held on April 26. The counting of votes and results will be declared on June 4.