New Delhi/Chandigarh, 12 Sept

The Congress on Thursday announced the names of eight more candidates for the Haryana Assembly polls, while leaving one seat for the CPI(M), as it accounted for all 90 seats in the state.

With the fourth, fifth and sixth lists coming out in quick succession before the deadline for filing nominations which ends Thursday, the party declared candidates on 89 of the 90 seats. The Congress left the Bhiwani Assembly seat for the CPI(M).

The fourth list came a few hours after the Congress declared its third list of 40 candidates on Wednesday night, fielding party MP Randeep Surjewala's son Aditya Surjewala from Kaithal. The party fielded Parimal Pari from Ambala Cantt, its youth leader Sachin Kundu from Panipat Rural, Satbir Dublain from the Narwana (SC) seat and Rohit Nagar from Tigaon.

Journalist Sarva Mitra Kamboj, who recently joined the Congress in the presence of former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and the party's state unit chief Udai Bhan, has been fielded from the Rania seat in Sirsa district.

Energy and Jails Minister Ranjit Chautala, who recently quit the BJP after being denied a ticket from Rania, represented the seat when he was an Independent MLA. He had quit the membership of the assembly before joining the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha polls to contest from Hisar, in which he was unsuccessful.

In its fifth list, the Congress announced the names of former MLA Naresh Selwal from Uklana (SC) and Jasbir Singh from Narnuad. In the final list, the party announced the candidature of Rohtash Khatana, who was previously associated with THE JJP, from Sohna and left the Bhiwani seat for the CPI(M).

With candidates announced for all seats, the Congress ended up having a tie-up with the CPI(M) alone. The party had engaged in seat-sharing talks with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for the Haryana polls which hit a deadlock following hard bargaining from both sides. Since then, the AAP has released multiple lists of its candidates.

Some Congress leaders had expressed reservations over a tie-up with the Arvind Kejriwal-led party. The Congress last week declared 32 candidates for the polls, fielding former chief minister Hooda from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi, state unit chief Udai Bhan from Hodal and wrestler Vinesh Phogat from Julana.

The party had first released a list of 31 candidates and a little later, said in a statement that the CEC had approved the candidature of Balbir Singh from the Israna (SC) constituency. It declared nine candidates on Sunday. The party has renominated all its 28 MLAs. Besides Hooda, Bhan, and Phogat, the Congress has also fielded Mewa Singh from Ladwa to take on Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini.

Assembly elections in Haryana will be held on 5 October and the counting of votes will be undertaken on 8 October.