No alliance with Congress? AAP releases first list of 20 candidates for Haryana, fields Anurag Dhandha from Kalayat

Amid a deadlock over an alliance with the Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday released its first list of 20 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Haryana. The party has fielded Anurag Dhandha from Kalayat, Pawan Fauji from Uchana Kala, Indu Sharma from Bhivani, and Bijendra Hooda from Rohtak. 

The AAP wanted at least 10 seats as part of the alliance deal, but Congress was offering only 3 seats, sources told India Today.   

AAP's first list of 20 candidates for Haryana

Naraingarh: Gurpal Singh
Kalayat: Anurag Dhandha
Pundri: Narendra Sharma
Gharaunda: Jaipal Sharma
Assandh: Amandeep Jundla
Samalkha: Bittu Pahalwan
Uchana Kalan: Pawan Fauji
Dabwali: Kuldeep Gadrana
Rania: Happy Rania
Bhiwani: Indu Sharma
Meham: Vikas Nehra
Rohtak: Bijendra Hooda
Bahadurgarh: Kuldeep Chikara
Badli: Ranbir Guliya
Beri: Sonu Ahlawat Sheria
Mahendragarh: Manish Yadav
Narnaul: Ravinder Matru
Badshahpur: Bir Singh Sarpanch
Sohna: Dharmendra Khatana 
Ballabgarh: Ravinder Faujdar 

Earlier today, the AAP's state unit chief Sushil Gupta said that his party will release the names of candidates from all the 90 seats if the deal is not finalised by the evening. The last date for filing nominations for the Haryana election is September 12. Polling is scheduled to be held on October 5. 

The talks between the Congress and the AAP stuck over the number of seats to be contested by Arvind Kejriwal-led party. "We will release the list of candidates for the 90 seats by the evening," Gupta said when asked about the Congress's reply to the AAP regarding an alliance. Gupta said the AAP has been waiting for a response from the grand old party but nothing has come so far.

AAP MP Sanjay Singh said party leaders, including Gupta and general secretary (organisation) Sandeep Pathak, have already said that the process of candidate finalisation has been completed and as soon as an approval comes from Kejriwal, the national convenor of the party, it will contest the election. 

AAP's Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha, who has been holding talks with Congress leaders over a prospective alliance, said on Sunday that both parties are trying to form a coalition for the Haryana polls, keeping aside their individual aspirations.