Congress slated to announce first list of candidates for Haryana Assembly polls tomorrow

The list of 23 candidates was slated to be released earlier this week but a decision was taken to release both the Haryana and Maharashtra candidate lists together

The Congress is all set to declare its first list of candidates for the Haryana Assembly polls on Wednesday with the end of the inauspicious 'pitrapaksh.' Although the initial list of 23 candidates was slated to be released earlier this week but a decision was taken to release both the Haryana and Maharashtra candidate lists together.

Sources disclose that while the exit of rebel leaders had made the task of chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda easier this time around, young PCC chief Ashok Tanwar had also attempted to push through his list of candidates. It was left to Sonia Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel to mediate, with Hooda having the final say.

Till date 65 out of the 90 tickets had been finalised by the CEC, according to party sources. Apart from the general consideration of tickets keeping in mind Jats, Dalits etc, this time around 10% tickets have been kept aside for youth and women respectively.

For the Hooda government facing a two term anti- incumbency, it has its back against the wall. The party is hoping that star campaigners would help to win some votes for the beleaguered Congress. The party has already declared Himachal Pardesh CM Virbhadra Singh, Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat, Lok Sabha MP and senior leader Capt. Amarinder Singh among its list of campaigners for the October Assembly polls.