As many as 32 of the 50 candidates contesting on a party ticket this time are fighting their first general elections. Last time, the percentage of newcomers was slightly higher at 72% with 36 first time Lok Sabha candidates from major parties in the fray.

The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has fielded the maximum number of first-timers (9), followed by its breakaway unit Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) which in alliance with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has given ticket to eight fresh faces on a total of 10 parliamentary seats in the state.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)- Loktantra Suraksha Party (LSP) alliance has also fielded eight newcomers. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded only four first-timers while the Congress went with just three.

Political experts say that old parties like BJP and Congress have fielded a fewer number of fresh faces as they are already established in the state.

“The other parties have fielded new faces due to lack of prominent personalities,” says Anil Arya, a political expert. He adds, “While parties such as AAP, JJP, BSP and LSP are in the process of finding their political footing in the state, INLD has had to pitch new faces as its senior leaders were unwilling to contest after a split in the party.”

Last time too, the Congress has fielded only three new faces while the BJP, which was in alliance with the Kuldeep Bishnoi-led Haryana Janhit Congress, had fielded five greenhorns. The INLD had fielded nine first-timers in 2014 as well its stalwarts were unwilling to contest after the party’s poor show in 2004 and 2009.

Further, INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala and his son Ajay Chautala’s conviction and subsequent sentencing in a teachers’ recruitment scam in 2013 also affected the morale of the cadres.

This time among INLD candidates, only sitting Sirsa MP Charanjeet Singh Rori has prior experience in Lok Sabha elections.

In the BSP-LSP alliance, Randhir Mann, who is contesting from Faridabad, and Kurukshetra nominee Shashi Saini had fought general elections earlier as independents but the rest are greenhorns. In the AAP-JJP alliance, only Dushyant Chautala and Naveen Jaihind have fought general elections earlier.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) retained five out of seven its sitting MPs during ticket distribution. It’s first-timers include minister of state (MOS) in Haryana government, Nayab Singh Saini from Kurukshetra, Sanjay Bhatia from Karnal, steel minister Birender Singh’s son Brijendra Singh and former Indian revenue officer Sunita Duggal for the Sirsa seat.

For Rohtak Lok Sabha seat, the saffron party reposed faith in Arvind Sharma, who joined the party after switching from BSP just ahead of tickets allotment.

The Congress’s first-time candidates in the Lok Sabha elections in the state are Kuldeep Bishnoi’s son Bhavya from Hisar, two former ministers — Nirmal Singh from Kurukshetra and Ajay Singh Yadav from Gurgaon parliamentary constituency.

First Published: May 02, 2019 05:10 IST