BJP poll panel to finalise Haryana aspirants Sept 29

New Delhi: The BJP’s central election committee (CEC) is likely to meet on September 29 to finalise candidates for the coming Haryana Assembly elections. In another poll-bound state Maharashtra, BJP and ally Shiv Sena are yet to officially announce the seat-sharing formula.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also attend the meeting after which the party could release the first list of candidates for the Haryana polls.

BJP's Haryana core group leaders, also including chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, on Wednesday held a meeting with party's national president and Union home minister Amit Shah, to sort out the issue of some senior leaders seeking tickets for their kin.

Though the party's state unit chief Subhash Barala, after the meeting, announced that the party was unwilling to field family members of its sitting MPs and MLAs, sources disclosed that Union minister Rao Inderjit Singh wants a ticket for his daughter and another Union minister Kishan Pal Gujjar is lobbying for his son, who is currently Faridabad’s deputy mayor. Sources said both Union ministers have cited the example of former Union minister and Rajya Sabha MP Cha-udhary Birendra Singh, whose son is an MP from Hisar and wife, Prem Lata, is an MLA Uchana Kalan Assembly seat. Rao Inderjit Singh belongs to the Ahirwal community, which has a significant population in atleast 17 Assembly seats.

Haryana will go to polls on October 21 and the party is confident of retaining power. The BJP had 47 seats in the 90-member Assembly in the 2014 polls.

At the core group meeting with Mr Shah, other than Mr Khattar and Mr Barala, Union minister and election incharge Narendra Singh Tomar, state incharge Anil Jain also attended.  BJP working president JP Nadda was also present during the meeting.