BJP names 8 candidates for Haryana, retains 5 MPs

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday announced eight candidates, including three sitting lawmakers and two Union ministers, for 10 Lok Sabha seats of Haryana.

The candidates for Hisar and Rohtak seats, represented in the 16th Lok Sabha by Jannayak Janata Party's Dushyant Chautala and Deepender Singh Hooda of the Congress respectively, are yet to be announced.

Dharamvir Singh (BJP) from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh, the only lawmaker in Haryana who used 100 per cent funds allocated under the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS), has been retained from the seat. According to official data, his fund utilisation was the highest at 102.16 per cent.

In Kurukshetra, Nayab Singh Saini has replaced Raj Kumar Saini who has not only been critical of the party's central and state leadership and has also floated the Loktantra Suraksha Party. Saini stood second in use of MPLADS funds.

Ratan Lal Katariya has been retained from Ambala, while former Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Suneeta Duggal will contest from the Sirsa parliamentary constituency. Both seats are reserved for the Scheduled Castes.

In Karnal, Sanjay Bhatia has replaced sitting member Ashwini Kumar. Kumar allocated Rs 18.66 crore in his constituency and had Rs 4.50 crore unspent funds. He stood the last for the MPLADS fund use in the state.

Gurugram MP and Union minster Rao Inderjit Singh has been retained from the seat and his cabinet colleague Krishan Pal Gurjar is candidate from Faridabad. In Sonipat, sitting MP Ramesh Chander Kaushik has been fielded.

The Congress is yet to announce candidates for the May 12 polls.

Dushyant Chautala, elected in 2014 on an Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) ticket from Hisar, has floated the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP).

The JJP, in its first political outing just weeks after formation, performed well in the recent Jind Assembly seat by-election. Dushyant's brother, Digvijay Chautala, finished second behind the BJP candidate.

The Congress finished third despite a strong leader like Randeep Surjewala being fielded by the party. The INLD, which won the seat twice earlier, lost security deposit.

At least four sitting BJP MPs -- Ashwini Kumar, Dharambir Singh, Rattan Lal Kataria, and Rao Inder Singh -- have spoken against the BJP leadership and the state Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. But they did not rebel against the party.

The BJP had won seven of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in the 2014 general elections.

--IANS

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