Haryana Assembly Elections 2024: The Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is pushing for nine seats for the upcoming Haryana Assembly elections, while the Congress is only willing to offer seven out of the 90 available seats, sources in AAP said.
Both parties are currently engaged in intense seat-sharing negotiations, with hard bargaining on both sides. As of Tuesday, the Congress central election committee has approved candidates for 66 out of the 90 seats for the Haryana Assembly elections.
As per the sources, AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha have already held two rounds of talks with senior Congress leader KC Venugopal. They are expected to meet again in the next day or two.
'Congress ready to give only 7 seats'
"The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is demanding nine seats. However, Congress is ready to give only seven out of the total of 90 seats. AAP has claimed one seat from each of the 10 Lok Sabha constituencies," said a source in the Arvind Kejriwal-led party.
“Out of 90 seats, 49 were discussed yesterday and today, the conclusions of the screening committee regarding the remaining 41 seats were put before the CEC... Earlier 34 seats (candidates) were finalised and today 32 out of 41 seats have been finalised,” Babaria told reporters.
Regarding the possibility of wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia being fielded by the Congress in the upcoming polls, he said that everything would be clarified by Thursday.
Earlier in the day, AAP's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh welcomed reports claiming Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has shown interest in the possibility of an alliance with AAP in Haryana, where polls will be held on October 5, and asserted that defeating the BJP is a priority of all the opposition parties.
He added any decision regarding an alliance will be taken with the approval of AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal, who is currently in jail in excise policy-related cases.
The Congress and AAP, partners in the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), had a seat adjustment for Lok Sabha polls in Delhi, Haryana and Gujarat. The Congress and AAP contested the Lok Sabha polls independently in Punjab.
BJP on Congress-AAP alliance
Taking a dig at the two parties which are in talks for an alliance for the October 5 polls, BJP leader Anil Vij said that the Congress lacks the strength to contest the Haryana elections on its own so it is 'cosying up' to the AAP.
“The Congress does not have the strength to contest elections in Haryana on its own, which is why they are now cozying up to AAP and aligning with the party,” the former Haryana home minister said.
Haryana Assembly Elections 2024
Assembly polls in Haryana will be held in a single phase on October 5 and the result will be declared on October 8. The term of the current government in Haryana will end on November 3, 2024, and elections will take place in 90 legislative assembly constituencies in the state.
In the 2019 elections, the BJP, with 40 seats in the 90-member assembly, formed a coalition government with the JJP. The JJP had won 10 seats, while the Congress had won 31 seats. The BJP-JJP alliance broke earlier this year. In 2024, Haryana is likely to see a four-way contest between the BJP, the Congress, the JJP, and the AAP.
(With PTI inputs)
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