Haryana BJP poll panel meets in Sonepat to discuss Baroda byelection candidate
Shortlisted names will be sent to the party’s central election committee that will finalise the candidate; BJP and its ally JJP met in Delhi on Friday and decided to put up a joint candidate on the BJP symbol
A day after the BJP and its ally Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) decided to put up a joint candidate for the November 3 Baroda byelection, the state election committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party meets in Sonepat on Saturday to discuss the probable candidate.
This will be the first meeting of the state BJP’s poll panel to shortlist candidates for Baroda.
Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar is in Gohana to discuss his party’s agenda for the bypoll. He will be meeting state unit chief OP Dhankar, state agriculture minister JP Dalal, Karnal MP Sanjay Bhatia, Union ministers Ratan Lal Kataria, Faridabad MP Krishan Pal Gurjar, former state finance minister Captain Abhimanyu, former education minister Ram Bilas Sharma in nearby Sonepat.
Dhankar said the names of probable candidates for Baroda will be sent to the BJP’s central election committee that will take a final call.
“On Friday evening, senior leaders of the BJP and the JJP met in Delhi. We have decided to announce a joint candidate of the coalition to fight on the BJP’s symbol. We are confident of winning this election”, Dhankar said.
The Baroda assembly seat fell vacant after the death of Congress MLA Sri Krishan Hooda, who represented the rural constituency in 2009, 2014 and 2019.
The Indian National Lok Dal won the seat from 1977 to 2005.
The saffron party’s nominee has never won from the Baroda constituency, which has 54 villages. Half the voters belong to the Jat community.
In the 2019 assembly elections, Congress nominee Sri Krishan Hooda defeated wrestler-turned-politician Yogeshwar Dutt by 4,840 votes.
The nomination process started from Friday and the form can be filed till October 16. Scrutiny of documents will be done on October 17. The withdrawal of papers will be allowed till October 19. The counting of votes will take place on November 10.
