Haryana Assembly Elections 2024: In a decisive move to maintain party discipline, the Congress today expelled ten leaders from its ranks in Haryana on Monday for alleged anti-party activities. Chitra Sarwara is one of them, who is contesting as an independent candidate from Ambala Cantonment as she was denied a ticket by the party. Sarwara is the daughter of the close aide of erstwhile Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda Nirmal Singh. She has earlier contested as an Independent in the 2019 Assembly elections and had lost to BJP‘s veteran leader Anil Vij.
Congress and BJP Face Internal Strife
The others are Satvinder Rana, Kapoor Singh Narwal, Virender Ghoghrian, Somveer Ghasola, Manoj Kosliya, Ajit Guliya, Sharda Rathore, Lalit Nagar, and Satveer Bhana. Their expulsions are on the lines of some of the dissidence in the Congress that has seen more than 20 rebels decide to contest as Independents against the party’s official candidates. The names included are Neetu Maan from Prithla and Sudheer Chaudhari from Pataudi, among several others.
The BJP also does not have internal dissidence in its pocket, as it has expelled eight leaders for contesting against party candidates, including names like Ranjit Singh Chautala and Devender Kadian. That these leaders were expelled depicts that the pressures in both the parties for elections are building up.
Chitra Sarwara’s Independent Run
Chitra Sarwara’s decision to go alone has further complicated the electoral scene in Haryana. As Anil Vij, a six-time MLA and former home minister, contests in this seat, Congress’s Parvinder Singh Pari, Sarwara hopes to cash in on her previous electoral performance in which she managed over 44,400 votes not having even been officially launched by the party at that time.
The overall situation in Haryana is indicative of the larger battle of the Congress as infighting raises questions about the party’s stability. Sampat Singh, a veteran leader, had even retracted his name for Nalwa seat as the party is battling to get one page for the near electoral battle as the campaign starts to heat up. The decisions taken by both the Congress and the BJP will define the forthcoming electoral battle in Haryana.