BJP releases list of 78 candidates for Haryana polls

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and sports icons Babita Phogat and Yogeshwar Dutt have made it to the BJP's first list of 78 candidates for the Haryana Assembly elections to be held on October 21.

Khattar will contest the election from the Karnal assembly seat which he won in 2014.

The party has given tickets to a number of noted sportspersons who had joined it in recent weeks with wrestler Babita Phogat, former Indian hockey captain Sandeep Singh, Olympic medallist Yogeshwar Dutt contesting from Dadri, Pehowa and Baroda respectively, its national general secretary Arun Singh told reporters here.

He said the party's central election committee, which had met on Sunday, has repeated 38 MLAs and dropped seven of them for the polls to the 90-member assembly.

Haryana BJP president Subhash Barala will contest from Tohana, Captain Abhimanyu from Narnod and Om Prakash Dhankar from Badli, Singh said.

Former Union minister and Jat leader Birender Singh's MLA wife will contest from Uchana Kalan, a seat she had won in 2014.

The candidates include nine women and two Muslims.

(With Inputs from PTI)