INLD announces 62 candidates for Haryana assembly polls

Haryana's main opposition Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) Friday announced its first list of 62 candidates for the state assembly elections to be held later this year.

INLD secretary general Abhay Singh Chautala announced the list here.

Chautala himself will contest from the Ellenabad seat, from where he is the sitting legislator.

The 90-member Haryana assembly is scheduled to go to the polls in October.

Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath met leaders of various political parties and senior Haryana government and police officers here Friday to review preparations for the assembly polls.

With October having a number of festivals like Dushhera, Diwali and Eid and other holidays, the Election Commission (EC) may even contemplate advancing the assembly polls in the state to September. A final decision will be taken by the EC later.

INLD's state president Ashok Arora will contest the election from his Thanesar seat.

The INLD has given tickets to 10 women candidates in this list of 62 while 11 youth have also been given tickets.

"We will release our manifesto tomorrow (Saturday). We will surely win the assembly polls. Leaders are deserting the Congress," Abhay Chautala told media.

Top leaders of the INLD, including former chief minister and INLD president Om Prakash Chautala and his son and legislator Ajay Chautala, were convicted and sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment in a teachers' recruitment scam. Another INLD legislator Sher Singh Badshami was also convicted and sent to prison.

The main contest is between the ruling Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party-Haryana Janhit Congress (BJP-HJC) alliance and the INLD. The Aam Aadmi Party has announced that it will not contest the assembly polls.

In the recent Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won seven seats while the INLD got two seats and the Congress managed to win one seat. All candidates of the AAP lost their security deposits.