Haryana Assembly Elections 2024 | Release of Congress' candidates' list delayed as party infighting intensify

New Delhi: The release of the list of Congress candidates for the upcoming Haryana Assembly elections has been delayed as the factional fight in Haryana Congress has intensified with senior leaders Kumari Selja and Randeep Surjewala complaining to the party High Command that their opinions are not heard by party in-charge Deepak Babaria.

Following the complaints, sources said that the Central Election Committee will meet on Friday evening, which will also see Rahul Gandhi's attendance. Rahul is scheduled to leave for the United States soon for a three day visit.

At a meeting of the review committee on Thursday, set up to deal with the issue of the 24 seats where there was no consensus, Selja, Surjewala and Ajay Yadav, who are opposed to former Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda's leadership, told the panel that Babaria was not listening to their suggestions and going by Hooda's wishes when it comes to candidates.

In two sittings, the CEC had cleared names for 66 out of the 90 seats in Haryana.

However, the remaining 24 seats were left to be dealt with by a review committee in which senior leaders Madhusudan Mistry, TS Singhdeo and Ajay Maken were members. It was earlier decided that the review committee will submit a report and on that basis a decision will be taken by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in consultation with Rahul.

As the anti-Hooda leaders approached Rahul with their complaint that their opinions were being rejected completely, the CEC was decided to be called.

Separately, the Congress and AAP continued their discussions on entering into an alliance in Haryana but there was no headway. While AAP stuck to its demand for 10 seats, sources said Congress was not in a mood to oblige with allowing more than five seats.

Congress, sources said, is willing to give one seat to AAP to capitalise on its hold on farmers' organisation and one seat to Samajwadi Party to seek the support of the Yadav community.

The Election Commission, meanwhile, issued notification for the Haryana elections on Thursday. Around a dozen candidates filed their nominations on the first day.