Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has scored over his detractors in the first list of 68 Congress nominees for the Haryana Assembly elections. As Hooda got tickets for some of his key favourites on Wednesday, a total of 22 of the 90 seats were still held up as the high command tried to reconcile conflicting claims.

Union Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja, however, checkmated Hooda on many seats, particularly in Assembly segments of her Ambala Lok Sabha constituency. She succeeded in shifting her close lieutenant Nirmal Singh to Ambala Cantt. D K Bansal, also a Selja-loyalist, was accommodated in Panchkula at her behest.

State Finance Minister Birender Singh, Lok Sabha member Inderjit Singh and Minister of State for Tourism Kiran Chaudhary failed to register any notable gains.

Hooda’s gains included a ticket for his former OSD K V Singh from Dabwali constituency. He faces a close relation, INLD’s Rajya Sabha member Ajay Chautala, elder son of Om Prakash Chautala. Sri Kishan Hooda, who had vacated his Kiloi seat in 2005 to enable the Chief Minister to enter the Assembly, was rewarded with a ticket from Baroda (Sonepat district) after a long wait. Independent MLAs Harsh Kumar (Hathin) and Dinesh Kaushik (Pundri), who were brought into the Congress by Hooda after the Assembly was dissolved, have been given tickets by the party. The Congress has also given a ticket to former Indian National Lok Dal MP Kailasho Saini (Ladwa), who had defected to the Congress a few months ago.

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