BJP, Congress announce candidates for Jind bypoll

The BJP and the Congress on Wednesday announced the names of their candidates for the by-election in Haryana's Jind Assembly constituency scheduled to be held on January 28.

After a round of meetings, chaired by senior Congress leader K C Venugopal and attended by top party leaders from Haryana, Rahul Gandhi took a final call on the nominee.

The Congress leaders feel Surjewala is the party's strongest candidate in the region, the sources said.

Surjewala had reportedly refused to contest but was asked by Gandhi himself to fight the January 28 bypoll, they said.

Surjewala is a sitting MLA from Haryana's Kaithal.

Meanwhile, Krishan Middha, whose father's demise in August had necessitated the bypoll, had recently joined the saffron party. He was the frontrunner to contest as the BJP candidate from this constituency.

"After discussion and taking various factors into account, the BJP's Central Election Committee has decided that Krishan Middha, the son of late Hari Chand Middha, will be the party's candidate for the Jind bypoll," Haryana BJP president Subhash Barala told reporters earlier in the day.

Meanwhile, the INLD said they would announce the name of their candidates on Thursday.

The recently floated Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) announced Digvijay Chautala as their candidate.

After his name was announced, Middha exuded confidence about his win.

"The BJP will get one more MLA, this time from Jind," he said.

Jind was represented by his late father, who was two-time MLA from here. The BJP is yet to taste a win from this constituency.

However, senior INLD leader and Leader of Opposition Abhay Singh Chautala said, "This seat was with our party MLA. But his son chose to join the BJP and people of the constituency know that he has betrayed them."

"We will be announcing name of our party candidate on Thursday and he will win by at least a margin of 25,000 votes," Chautala claimed.

The Election Commission had on December 31 announced that the bypoll to the Jind assembly seat would be held on January 28 and the results will be out on January 31.

The filing of nominations began on January 3 and January 10 is the last date to file papers by the candidates for the bypoll.

The bypoll to the Jind assembly seat, which is considered as the political heartland of Haryana, will prove to be a litmus test for various parties, including the ruling BJP, the Congress and the INLD.

The win from Jind is going to be crucial for the contesting parties, with the Lok Sabha polls not far away and the state assembly polls also scheduled for the later part of 2019.

While the BJP will be eyeing a win from Jind to consolidate its position ahead of the state assembly polls, the opposition Congress, which has been attacking the Khattar government over its alleged failure on all fronts, will also look to grab a victory.