New Delhi: The Congress managers are trying to follow LoP Rahul Gandhi’s directive that all Haryana assembly poll tickets should be cleared through consensus so that the party goes to the October 5 election as a united team.
So far, the party’s central election committee has been able to clear 66 out of the total 90 assembly seats through consensus but no agreement could be reached on the remaining 24 seats as three strong regional leaders former chief minister BS Hooda, Lok Sabha MP Kumari Selja and Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Surjewala kept pushing the names of their nominees.
“We have held two rounds of the CEC and have finalised 66 of the 90 seats. The remaining seats have been referred to a review committee which will resolve the matter soon,” AICC in charge of Haryana Dipak Babaria told ETV Bharat.
According to party insiders, before the CEC met on September 2 and 3, the Screening Committee for Haryana headed by AICC Treasurer Ajay Maken held several rounds of talks with the regional leaders but could not arrive at a satisfactory list which could be presented before the central election committee.
“We discussed all the seats in detail and approved 66 seats unanimously but some more consultations need to be done. The Congress is united in the state and will form the next government,” said Babaria.
According to party insiders, screening panel head Ajay Maken along with state in-charge Babaria and veteran Madhusudan Mistry will now talk to the three regional leaders Hooda, Selja and Surejwala one on one on September 5 to ease out the differences among them and evolve a consensus over the remaining seats.
Based on the recommendations of the review committee, the tickets will be approved without sending the names to the CEC, the party insiders said. There were around 2556 applications for the 90 seats in Haryana averaging around 28 applications per seat.
To curb infighting within the state unit, the high command had denied assembly tickets to sitting MPs Selja, Surjewala and BS Hooda’s son Deepender Hooda, all claimants for the chief ministerial post. However, the regional leaders were assured that their suggestions would be considered in ticket approval.
The first list may be announced on September 4 as the Congress has decided to field most of its 28 sitting MLAs again but some of the lawmakers may lose a re-nomination over performance issues. The party managers are likely to leave a few seats for allies AAP and SP if seat-sharing gets formalised.
Further, the Congress managers are likely to field wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia from Julana and Badli seats respectively after the two met LoP Rahul Gandhi on September 4. Vinesh and Bajrang also met AICC in-charge organisation KC Venugopal but he later said the meeting was not related to elections.
Earlier, the Congress had alleged a conspiracy behind the fiasco at the Paris 2024 Olympics in which Vinesh Phogat had reached the finals but was barred from playing as she was found to be slightly overweight. She later appealed for a silver medal at the arbitration court which rejected her case.
Former chief minister Hooda had demanded that Vinesh be nominated to the Rajya Sabha in appreciation of contribution to sports.
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