Haryana polls: CM Nayab Saini to contest election from Ladwa in Kurukshetra

Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini will contest the Assembly election from Ladwa in Kurukshetra district, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president Mohan Lal Badoli said on Friday.

The saffron party is expected to release its first list of candidates for the Legislative Assembly polls by Sunday.

The voting to elect the 90-member Haryana Assembly is scheduled for October 1. The counting of votes will take place on October 4.

While speaking to the media in Delhi, Badoli said, “CM sahab Ladwa se chunav ladenge (the CM will contest from Ladwa).”

Saini, who represents the Karnal seat in the Haryana Assembly, was the MP from Kurukshetra between 2019 and 2024.

The Ladwa assembly seat is currently held by Congress leader Mewa Singh.

On Thursday, the BJP’s Central Election Committee (CEC) met in the national capital to finalise the party’s candidates for the Assembly polls in Haryana, where the ruling party is eyeing a third consecutive term.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda were among the CEC members who deliberated on the probable list of party nominees for the state elections.

Badoli, the MLA from Rai in Sonipat, also said that he would not contest the election.

After another round of meetings, the first list of candidates is expected to be out soon, he said.

There had been no discussions regarding an alliance, Badoli added, asserting that the BJP would form the government with a clear majority.

In the last assembly polls, the BJP had emerged as the single largest party and formed a coalition government in a post-poll alliance with the Jannayak Janta Party. However, the BJP-JJP alliance broke earlier this year just before the Lok Sabha polls.

After the BJP’s core group meeting, senior party leader and former Haryana home minister Anil Vij said that the party’s state team had apprised the central team of the political scenario in the state.

“Our party is a democratic party…Now the Central Election Committee will take a final call (on the probable candidates for assembly polls),” he had said.