Haryana to vote in a single phase April 10

The Lok Sabha elections in Haryana will be held in a single phase April 10, an election commission official said Wednesday.

Voting for the 10 parliamentary constituencies in the state will take place April 10, the third phase of the polling.

The Congress has nine sitting MPs. It would bank on five of its sitting MPs, as per announcements made by party vice president Rahul Gandhi.

The young turks include Deepender Singh Hooda (son of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda) from Rohtak, Shruti Choudhry (granddaughter of former Haryana CM late Chaudhary Bansi Lal) from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh, party state president Ashok Tanwar from Sirsa (reserved), Naveen Jindal from Kurukshetra and Arvind Sharma from Karnal.

Former union minister and MP from Ambala (reserved) seat Kumari Selja has been nominated for the Rajya Sabha.

The Congress has to decide on candidates from Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ambala, Sonipat and Hisar.

Avtar Singh Bhadana is the Congress' sitting MP from Faridabad but the Haryana CM has recommended the name of former legislator from Palwal and his close relative Karan Singh Dalal for the seat.

CM Hooda has also recommended Badshahpur MLA Rao Dharampal's name for the Gurgaon seat. Sitting MP from Sonipat Jitender Singh Malik, grandson of late Chaudhary Lahri Singh (minister of joint Punjab), has announced he will fight assembly elections (due this year) instead of the Lok Sabha polls.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also intensified its preparations.

Gurgaon sitting MP Rao Inderjeet Singh who has joined the saffron party would most likely be its candidate for this seat, with national president Rajnath Singh saying Rao Inderjeet would be a face of the party from south Haryana.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is also in the fray this time. It has said it would contest all 10 seats and has already announced the names of six candidates in its three lists.

AAP has announced the party's senior leader and political scientist Yogendra Yadav from Gurgaon and woman farm leader Balwinder Kaur from Kurukshetra.

Former IAS officer Yudhbir Singh Khyalia, who has taken VRS to join the AAP, is the party's choice for Hisar where Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi, son of former Haryana CM Bhajan Lal, is the sitting MP.

From Sirsa, social activist Poonam Chand Ratti is the AAP nominee.

AAP has given the Rohtak ticket to youth leader Naveen Jaihind while social activist and advocate Jaisingh Thekedar -- president of Bar Association, Gohana -- will contest from Sonipat.