Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini will contest from a new constituency, Ladwa in Kurukshetra district, while Speaker Gian Chand Gupta and former minister Anil Vij have been retained in their strongholds Panchkula and Ambala, respectively, for the October 5 Assembly elections, as per BJP’s first list of nominees released on Wednesday.

Saini is currently the legislator from Karnal, the seat vacated by two-time former Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar who is a Union Minister now.

The first list of BJP named 67 candidates, including prominent nominees like Kanwar Pal Gurjar from Jagadhri, Sunita Duggal from Ratia, Bhavya Bishnoi from Adampur, and Tejpal Tanwar from Sohna.

The list also includes Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh’s daughter Aarti Rao who has been fielded from Ateli, while Shruti Choudhry, who recently quit the Congress along with her mother and former Haryana CM Bansi Lal’s daughter-in-law Kiran Choudhry, has been fielded from Tosham.

Rao Narbir Singh, who had earlier said that he will fight on a Congress ticket if he is not fielded by the BJP, but on Wednesday said that he is certain of figuring among the candidates, has been fielded from Badshahpur.

Shakti Rani Sharma, wife of former Cabinet minister Venod Sharma, who joined the BJP two days ago, has been fielded from Kalka, which was unseated by Congress MLA Pradeep Chaudhary, who was convicted and sentenced to three-year imprisonment in a case of rioting by a Himachal Pradesh court.

Devender Singh Babli and Sanjay Kablana, who joined the BJP recently, will contest from Tohana and Tosham, respectively.

Responding to the release of the list much ahead of Congress, Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said, “A list of 67 candidates was issued today. Seats have been allocated to almost all senior candidates. I think nominations will continue till September 12. The remaining seats will be cleared too and a second list will be released in a few days.”

The candidates can file their nomination papers till September 12. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is September 16.

The list comes simultaneously after its former post-poll ally, the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), released the first list of 19 candidates in alliance with the Azad Samaj Party led by Chandrashekhar Azad.

Sitting MLA and former Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala will contest from Uchana Kalan, as per the JJP list.

Meanwhile, two Jat faces, Devender Singh Babli and Sunil Sangwan, who joined the BJP on September 2 in the presence of the party’s General Secretary Arun Singh, also figured in the list of 67 candidates.

While Babli, a JJP rebel and former minister in the Khattar government, has been fielded from Tohana, Sangwan, who took voluntary retirement from the post of Jail Superintendent and is the son of former minister Satpal Sangwan, has been fielded from Dadri.

Of three other rebel JJP MLAs — Ram Kumar Gautam from Narnaund, Jogi Ram Sihag from Barwala, and Anoop Dhanak from Uklana (reserved), Gautam has been fielded from Safidon while Dhanak will contest the Uklana Assembly seat.

Following is the complete list of BJP candidates:

1. Nayab Singh Saini (Ladwa)

2. Shakti Rani Sharma (Kalka)

3. Gian Chand Gupta (Panchkula)

4. Anil Vij (Ambala Cantt.)

5. Aseem Goel (Ambala City)

6. Santosh Sarwan (Mulana, SC)

7. Balwant Singh (Sadhaura, SC)

8. Kanwar Pal Gurjar (Jagadhri)

9. Ghanshyam Dass Arora (Yamunanagar)

10. Shyam Singh Rana (Radaur)

11. Subhash Kalsana (Shahbad, SC)

12. Subhash Sudha (Thanesar)

13. Kamaljeet Singh Ajrana (Pehowa)

14. Kulwant Bazigar (Guhla, SC)

15. Kamlesh Dhanda (Kalayat)

16. Leela Ram Gurjar (Kaithal)

17. Bhagwan Dass Kabirpanthi (Nilokheri, SC)

18. Ram Kumar Kashyap (Indri)

19. Jagmohan Anand (Karnal)

20. Harvinder Kalyan (Gharaunda)

21. Mahipal Dhanda (Panipat Rural)

22. Pramod Kumar Vij (Panipat City)

23. Krishan Lal Panwar (Israna, SC)

24. Manmohan Bhadana (Samalkha)

25. Pawan Kharkhauda (Kharkhauda, SC)

26. Nikhil Madan (Sonipat)

27. Arvind Sharma (Gohana)

28. Ram Kumar Gautam (Safidon)

29. Krishan Lal Middha (Jind)

30. Devender Attri (Uchana Kalan)

31. Devender Singh Babli (Tohana)

32. Duda Ram Bishnoi (Fatehabad)

33. Sunita Duggal (Ratia, SC)

34. Rajinder Deshujodha (Kalanwali SC)

35. Shishpal Kamboj (Rania)

36. Bhavya Bishnoi (Adampur)

37. Anoop Dhanak (Uklana, SC)

38. Capt. Abhimanyu (Narnaund)

39. Vinod Bhayana (Hansi)

40. Ranbir Gangwa (Barwala)

41. Kamal Gupta (Hisar)

42. Randhir Panihar (Nalwa)

43. J.P. Dalal (Loharu)

44. Umed Patuwas (Badhra)

45. Sunil Sangwan (Dadri)

46. Ghanshyam Saraf (Bhiwani)

47. Shruti Choudhry (Tosham)

48. Kapur Valmiki (Bawani Khera, SC)

49. Deepak Hooda (Meham)

50. Manju Hooda (Garhi Sampla-Kiloi)

51. Renu Dabla (Kalanaur, SC)

52. Dinesh Kaushik (Bahadurgarh)

53. Om Prakash Dhankar (Badli)

54. Kaptan Birdhana (Jhajjar, SC)

55. Sanjay Kablana (Beri)

56. Arti Singh Rao (Ateli)

57. Abhe Singh Yadav (Nangal Chaudhry)

58. Anil Dahina (Kosli)

59. Lakshman Singh Yadav (Rewari)

60. Rao Narbir Singh (Badshahpur)

61. Mukesh Sharma (Gurgaon)

62. Tejpal Tanwar (Sohna)

63. Gaurav Gautam (Palwal)

64. Tek Chand Sharma (Prithla)

65. Mool Chand Sharma (Ballabgarh)

66. Vipul Goel (Faridabad)

67. Rajesh Nagar (Tigaon)