As the Lok Sabha election inches closer in Haryana, the Congress is yet to declare its candidates, even as its traditional rival the Bharatiya Janata Party has taken the lead in announcing candidates and stepped up electioneering.
Haryana, which has 10 Lok Sabha constituencies, will have single-phase polling on May 25. In the 2019 election, which saw a 70% turnout, the BJP swept all the 10 seats.
The Congress’s delay in selecting candidates has given BJP leaders new ammunition to target the grand old party. Up against a powerful rival, the challenge before the Congress, which has been functioning in the State for over nine years now without block and district committees, is to put up a united fight.
While the Congress has not announced a single candidate so far, the BJP has declared candidates for all seats, and its nominees have also kicked off campaigning. In the past few days, senior BJP leaders have been taunting the Congress on the delay in declaring their candidates, levelling allegations of “infighting” and “factionalism”. On Tuesday, addressing a gathering in Narnaul, Chief Minister Saini even said the Congress was afraid of contesting elections against the BJP.
Here is the full list of 308 Congress candidates announced so far
Meanwhile, anxiety among the party cadre and leaders has also been growing due to the delay in declaring candidates, a party leader said, highlighting that the election is barely a month away. Early announcement of candidates is always advantageous as it gives ample time for the candidate to campaign, he added.
In Haryana, the Congress is contesting the parliamentary election in an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), its Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) partner. The Congress will contest on nine seats and the AAP on one. The AAP has already announced its candidate for the lone Kurukshetra seat it is fighting.
Haryana Congress president Chaudhary Udaybhan hit back at the BJP saying the ruling party had fewer supporters and hence was able to declare candidates soon, and on the other hand, the Congress had scores of applicants.
“There is no delay in campaigning. Nominations are yet to be filed and there is ample time. In fact, the BJP has limited number of people hence they announced the candidates earlier. In Congress, the number of applicants was numerous so a slight delay is natural. Also, we are a democratic party and all applicants and leaders have right to speak their mind, and hence it takes time to take decisions,” Mr. Udaybhan told The Hindu.
“The announcement will come anytime now. The deliberations are over, wherever there is disagreement, the decision would be taken by the high command,” added Mr. Udaybhan.
