Chandigarh: Harayana's ruling Congress has, so far, not released its list of candidates for the assembly elections next month despite the last date for filing nominations just five days away. The BJP and INLD have announced their candidates but none of them have actually filed nominations. The reason, though not being officially attributed by any of the leading parties or candidates, is the ongoing ‘Shradhs'.
Considered as an inauspicious period for doing or starting anything new, the ‘Shradh' period (Sep 8 to 23) gets over Tuesday and most candidates and parties are apparently waiting for that to happen. The auspicious period of ‘Navratris', as per the Hindu calendar, begins Thursday (Sep 25).
Despite the process for filing of nominations for the Oct 15 assembly polls starting Saturday (Sep 20), only 22 candidates have filed their nominations so far. Five candidates filed it on Saturday while 17 more filed it Monday. Most of them are independent candidates or those from lesser-known political parties.
None of the candidates who have filed their nominations belong to the major political parties, be it the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and others.
“The last date for filing nomination papers is Sep 27. On Sep 23 and 25, there would be holidays in government offices of Haryana, but candidates could file their nomination papers on these days,” state chief electoral officer Shrikant Walgad said here.
All 90 assembly seats go to polls Oct 15.
The ruling Congress, which has held a series of meetings in New Delhi in recent days, has still not come out with names of its candidates for the assembly elections.
“The list will be known after the ‘Shradh' period is over and the auspicious period begins. It will just take a couple of days more,” a sitting Congress legislator, who is confident of getting a ticket this time too, told IANS.
However, the BJP, which is identified with Hindutva ideology, has gone ahead and declared its candidates for all 90 seats during the Shradh period itself. Its first list contained 43 names and remaining 47 came Saturday. However, none of the candidates of the party have so far filed their nominations.
“The Shradh period is considered inauspicious for new things. Politicians, especially, don't want to take any chances. Even in the auspicious days, they tend for go and file nominations on the best suited date and time,” Vinod Sharma, an astrologer in Panchkula, told IANS.
Most seats in the state are likely to have multi-cornered contests this time. While the BJP is hoping to come to power on its own for the first time, the Congress and the INLD are confident of a good showing as well.
