On at least four seats in the state where the sitting MPs are likely to be repeated, the pressure for ticket is relatively less.These seats are Rohtak Parliamentary constituency, where the candidature of Deepinder Hooda is almost certain; the reserved seat of Ambala where Selja is likely to be renominated; Kurukshetra, where Navin Jindal is likely to be repeated, and Faridabad, where sitting MP Avtar Singh Bhadana may get the party’s nod.

However, the most sought after seats by the partymen today are those of Sonepat, Karnal and Bhiwani-Mahendergarh and, to some extent, Gurgaon. The Sonepat seat is the only one that the Congress failed to bag in the Lok Sabha elections of 2004. It was BJP’s Kishan Singh Sangwan who defied the then Congress wave to win the seat. But this time, the Congress considers the Sonepat seat to be the easiest one to win.

No wonder, there are a whole lot of Congress leaders, including Finance Minister Birender Singh, Power Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala and Congress Women’s Wing leader Krishna Gehlot, who are in the race for the ticket. A section of Congressmen are now demanding that the Sonepat seat must be given to Asha Hooda, wife of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. “Asha Hooda will be the best bet among Congressmen. She will win by a record margin, provided she gets the party ticket,’’ says Pawan Jain, media convenor of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee.

After the delimitation process, the two parliamentary constituencies of Bhiwani and Mahendergarh were joined to form a single unit. The character of the constituency has changed from being purely a Jat belt to a Jat and Ahir majority region now. The tussle for the ticket is between the Hooda and the Kiran Choudhry group, with late Bansi Lal’s older son Ranbir Mahendra also joining the party. MLA Rao Daan Singh is another aspirant for the ticket.

In Karnal, sitting Congress MP Dr Arvind Sharma is the strongest candidate, but keeping in mind his flirtations with the BSP last year, some partymen are demanding that he should not be relied upon. The names making the rounds for the constituency, considered a Brahmin belt, are former minister Venod Sharma and Kuldeep Sharma, working president of the HPCC.

Businessman Avinash Poliwal, a relative of Janardan Dwivedi, is also trying hard for the ticket.

The Hisar and the Sirsa seats do not have many Congress aspirants. Jai Prakash is likely to be nominated from Hisar seat, while Buta Singh, chairman of the SC Commission, is said to be in the running for the Sirsa seat, along with All India Youth Congress president Ashok Tanwar.