The Haryana unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has expelled eight leaders from the party for six years for choosing to contest the Haryana assembly election as Independent candidates against official party candidates, including chief minister Nayab Singh Saini.
Among the expelled leaders are former Haryana minister Ranjit Chautala, who had quit the post after he was denied ticket and Sandeep Garg, who had filed nomination to contest against Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini from Ladwa.
A statement in this regard was issued by state party chief Mohan Lal Badoli.
The other six expelled leaders are Zile Ram Sharma, who is contesting from the Assandh seat, former minister Bachan Singh Arya from Safido, Radha Ahlawat from Meham, Naveen Goyal from Gurgaon, and Kehar Singh Rawat from Hathin and former MLA Devendra Kadyan from Ganaur.
Chautala decided to quit the saffron party after he was denied the poll ticket from Rania, the seat he represented in the Assembly when he was an independent MLA. He quit the membership of the Assembly before joining the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha polls held earlier in the year. He had unsuccessfully contested the parliamentary polls from Hisar.
Earlier on Friday, the Haryana Congress expelled 13 leaders for “anti-party activities” over their decision to contest the polls as independent candidates.
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The 90-member Haryana Assembly is scheduled to go to polls on October 5 and the counting of votes will be taken up on October 8. The BJP is eyeing to return to power in the state for a third consecutive term.
(With inputs from agencies)