Rebellion is brewing in the Congress party a day after releasing its first list of 31 candidates for the Haryana Assembly elections. Rajesh Joon, a prominent leader, has announced his departure from the Congress party after being denied a ticket from the Bahadurgarh constituency and declared his intention to run as an independent candidate.
The Congress decided to field the incumbent MLA Rajendra Singh Joon from the Bahadurgarh seat. Feeling sidelined, Rajesh, who was a ticket aspirant from Bahadurgarh in Jhajjar district, has left the party and announced his plan to contest the election independently.
Addressing the media in Bahadurgarh, Rajesh stated, “I will contest as an independent candidate.” He made this decision after consulting with his supporters, who persuaded him to run in the upcoming Assembly elections.
Filing Nomination on September 11
Rajesh declared that he would file his nomination papers on September 11 and has already started his campaign for the elections.
Expressing his discontent, Rajesh stated that he had been “betrayed” and claimed that his candidature was overlooked and that he was “used.”
In the 2014 Assembly elections, Rajesh contested as an independent candidate from the Bahadurgarh constituency but did not succeed. In the 2019 elections, he withdrew his nomination in favor of Rajendra Joon.
Congress Releases First List
On Friday, Congress released its first list of 31 candidates for the Haryana Assembly elections, fielding former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi, state unit chief Uday Bhan from Hodal, and wrestler Vinesh Phogat from Julana.
Out of the 28 sitting MLAs in the current Assembly, Congress re-nominated 27 on Friday, while it has yet to announce its candidate for the Israna seat, which currently has a Congress MLA. In the 2019 Assembly elections, Congress had 31 MLAs, but later, MLA Bhavya Bishnoi joined the BJP and is now a legislator with the ruling party. Voting in Haryana will take place on October 5, with the counting for the 90-member Assembly elections scheduled for October 8.
