The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) released its third list of candidates for the Haryana Assembly elections on Tuesday, naming 11 individuals vying for seats across the state. The new list includes Col Rajendra Rawat for Hathin, Mahender Dahiya for Jhajjar, Rajesh Saroha for Rai, Amar Singh for Nilokheri, Satish Yadav for Rewari, Bheem Singh Rathi for Radaur, Amit Kumar for Israna, Manjeet Farmana for Kharkhauda, Pravin Guskhani for Garhi Sampla-Kiloi, Naresh Bagri for Kalanaur, and Suneel Rao for Ateli.
Earlier on Tuesday, AAP also released its second list of nine candidates, following the announcement of its first list of 20 candidates on Monday.
The release of these lists comes in the wake of unsuccessful seat-sharing negotiations between AAP and Congress. The two parties had previously united for the Lok Sabha elections in Haryana but contested separately in Punjab.
Punjab Congress leader Raj Kumar Verka criticized AAP’s approach, attributing the breakdown in talks to what he described as the “arrogance” of AAP leaders. “It is not the alliance that has broken; rather, it is AAP’s arrogance that has been shattered,” Verka stated. He accused AAP of lacking coherent leadership and coordination, suggesting that internal disagreements have led to inconsistent statements and undermined their credibility. Verka, who served as the Amritsar West Assembly constituency representative from 2012 to 2022, expressed doubts about AAP’s ability to gain a significant vote bank in Haryana.
However, the deadline for filing nomination papers is September 12.Voters will head to the polls for the 90-member Haryana Legislative Assembly on October 5, with officials scheduled to count the votes on October 8.
