Haryana polls: JJP announces 4th list, Chautalas face Singhs again

Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) on Thursday announced its fourth list of 30 candidates for the upcoming Haryana Assembly polls. According to the list, party leader Dushyant Chautala will fight the elections from the Uchana Kalana segment and once again take on BJP's sitting MLA Prem Lata. Dushyant, a former MP from Hisar will take on Prem Lata, who defeated him from the constituency by a margin of over 7,000 votes in the 2014 state Assembly polls. Assembly elections in Haryana will take place on October 21. The last day for filing nomination is October 4. The final results will be declared on October 24 after the counting of votes. 

Battle for Uchana Kalan

Uchana Kalan in Jind district has been a bastion of former Union Minister Birender Singh, who earlier represented the seat five times. Singh's wife Prem Lata, a sitting MLA, was re-nominated from the seat by the BJP for the Assembly elections. Lata had defeated Dushyant in 2014 polls when he had entered the fray despite being a sitting MP of the Indian National Lok Dal from Hisar. Dushyant also tasted defeat at the hands of bureaucrat-turned-politician Brijendra Singh of the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls from Hisar this year. Brijendra is the son of Prem Lata and Birender Singh, who is at present a Rajya Sabha MP. 

Read: Congress party divided into groups in Haryana: BJP's Anil Vij

Singh versus Chautala 

So fierce has been the political rivalry between Birender Singh and the Chautala family that Dushyant's grandfather and former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala had shifted to Uchana Kalan seat in 2009 when Narwana seat in Jind was reserved after the delimitation exercise. In 2009, O P Chautala, who is INLD president, had defeated Birender Singh from Uchana Kalan by a narrow margin of 621 votes. Both Dushyant and Birender Singh come from prominent Jat families of the state and Jind district is considered as a political heartland of Haryana. 

Read: Congress releases the list of 84 candidates for Haryana Assembly polls

Other candidates 

In the list of 30, JJP also named former BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav, who was dismissed in 2017 after he posted a video complaining about the quality of food served to the troops, as the party candidate from Karnal to take on Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. Among other candidates whose names were announced by JJP on Thursday was former MLA Arjun Singh, who has been fielded from Jagadhri. On Tuesday, the party had released its third list naming 20 candidates. So far, the party has announced 72 candidates. On September 29, the JJP had announced 15 candidates and in its first list on September 13 the names of seven candidates were announced. The JJP, which came into existence after a vertical split in INLD following a feud within the Chautala clan, is contesting the polls independently. 

Read: BJP releases final list for Haryana polls,4 sitting MLAs denied ticket

Read: Haryana elections: Shiromani Akali Dal announces an alliance with INLD