The Congress party on late Friday released its first list of candidates for 31 out of the 90 Assembly seats in Haryana, hours after wrestler Vinesh Phogat and Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Bajrang Punia were inducted into the party fold by veteran leader KC Venugopal. The party has fielded Vinesh Phogat from Julana Assembly constituency. Haryana goes to the polls on October 5 and the votes will be counted on October 8. Congress has fielded former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda from the Garhi Sampla-Kiloi seat. Senior Congress leader Surender Panwar has been given a ticket from Sonipat, Jagbir Singh Malik from Gohana, and Bharat Bhushan Batra from Rohtak. From Badli seat, the Congress has fielded Kuldeep Vata, Geeta Bhukkal from Jhajjar (reserved for SC), Chiranjeev Rao from Rewari, Aftab Ahmed from Nuh, and Neeraj Sharma from Faridabad NIT. Earlier on the day, the Central Election Committee (CEC) of the Congress met at the party headquarters in New Delhi to finalise the party candidates for the upcoming Haryana Assembly polls. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Sonia Gandhi, party general secretary in-charge organisation K C Venugopal, All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of Haryana Deepak Babaria and former chief minister of the state Bhupinder Singh Hooda, among others, attended the meeting. On the possibility of any MP contesting the polls, Babaria told the reporters after the meeting that till date, no MP has been permitted to contest Assembly elections. Congress is also engaged in seat-sharing talks with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)for the Haryana polls, with hard bargaining going on from both sides. The last date to file nominations is September 12, with the papers being scrutinised on September 13. Nominations can be withdrawn till September 16.

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