Haryana Assembly Polls: BJP expels eight leaders for contesting as independents

Haryana will go to the polls on October 5 to elect a 90-member state legislative assembly

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday expelled eight leaders from the party for six years for choosing to contest the Haryana assembly elections as
independent candidates against official party nominees. The Haryana BJP said its chief Mohan Lal Badoli has expelled these leaders for a period of six years with immediate effect.

The list of expelled leaders also includes former minister Ranjit Chautala and former MLA Devendra Kadyan. The other names on the list include Sandeep Garg, Jileram Sharma, Bachchan Singh Arya, Radha Ahlawat,Naveen Goyal, and Kehar Singh Rawat.

Earlier, Haryana Minister and BJP leader Ranjit Singh Chautala resigned from the Cabinet after being denied a ticket by the party for the upcoming assembly polls.

Chautala, the brother of former Haryana (/topic/haryana) Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, has decided to run as an independent candidate from the Rania seat.

"I will contest as an independent candidate from the Rania Assembly constituency. It is the decision of the people of my constituency. After I did not get the ticket, I took this decision," he told ANI.

The BJP has fielded Shishpal Kamboj to contest from the Rania seat in its first list of candidates. Meanwhile, Sandeep Garg has filed nomination papers from the Ladwa constituency against Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini.

Meanwhile, the Haryana Congress expelled 13 leaders on Friday for "anti-party activities" over their decision to contest the polls as independent candidates.

Several leaders of both the BJP and the Congress were upset over being denied tickets to contest the Assembly polls, but the parties have managed to pacify most of them.

Haryana will go to the polls on October 5 to elect a 90-member state legislative assembly to form its next government,with the counting set to take place on October 8.

*With Agency Inputs