New Delhi:
Counting of votes for assembly elections inMaharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh will be taken up soon and the ten-day long suspense over who will form the next government isexpected to be over in a few hours. Here is the list of heavyweights in the fray from each state.
MAHARASHTRA
Narayan Rane: Maharashtra's Industries Minister Narayan Rane, who made an unsuccessful bid for the chief ministerial post last December, is trying his luck from Kudal constituency.
Rane, who was the chief minister of Maharashtra during the Sena-BJP rule, represented the Malwan assembly constituency for four consecutive terms. He joined Congress in 2005 after being expelled from the Shiv Sena. In November 2005 by-polls, soon after he joined Congress, Rane had trounced Sena candidate Parshuram Uparkar where the latter lost his deposit.
Despite the controversies surrounding him, he has nurtured a strong support base in Kudal over the years. The Shiv Sena has fielded the 30-year old district chief of the party, Vaibhav Naik, against Rane who himself was a strong Sena man in the past.
Ever since he left the party, the Sena has been struggling in the Konkan region with the Congress gaining an upper hand. The Kudal assembly segment gave a lead of 10,000 votes to Nilesh Rane, son of Narayan Rane who contested from Sindhudurg Lok Sabha constituency.
Ashok Chavan: The incumbent Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Ashok Chavan, is seeking re-election to the Maharashtra Assembly from Bhokar constituency. Chavan has inherited the political legacy of his late father and former chief minister S B Chavan, becoming the first father-son duo in the state's history to adorn the chief ministerial chair.
Ashok Chavan began his political career riding piggyback on his father's political clout in 1987 when he was elected to Lok Sabha from Nanded. In 1999, he was elected as a Member of Legislative Assembly from Mudkhed constituency and inducted as a Cabinet minister for Revenue and Protocol. In 2003, he became minister for Transport, Ports, Cultural Affairs and Protocol. In November 2004, Chavan became Minister for Industries, Mining, and Cultural Affairs & Protocol. Prior to joining the government, Chavan was general secretary of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (1995 to 1999).
Vinod Kambli: Cricketer-turned-politician Vinod Kambli is contesting the Maharashtra Assembly election from Vikhroli constituency. Kambli is a candidate of Lok Bharati Party.
Born in the chawls of Mumbai, Kambli's exciting start to a Test career made him a sporting star. Being the first Dalit from Mumbai to play for India has made him an even more attractive choice for the Lok Bharati Party, which is projecting itself as pro poor, and pro Dalit party.
The Third Front parties like the Samajwadi Party, Republican Party of India, Janata Dal and other Left parties have all expressed their support for Kambli. Though Kambli has been in news for all the wrong reasons lately, laying bare his thoughts on old friend Sachin Tendulkar on a reality show, his party is hoping the batsman's knack for staying in the spotlight will help draw more votes.
Anna Joshi: Former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Anna Joshi left the party to join the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), giving a jolt to the Saffron alliance in Maharashtra. Joshi has been amongst the senior most BJP leaders from Pune. He is contesting from the Kothrud assembly constituency on an NCP ticket, where the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance has fielded Chandrakant Mokate.
Anna was a two-time MLA before becoming an MP. He has also held the post of deputy speaker of Maharashtra Assembly. It said that Joshi was disillusioned after he was denied the ticket in the last Lok Sabha elections, and now again for assembly elections.
Pankaj Bhujbal: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal has put his campaigning might in Nandgaon assembly constituency in Nashik district, from where his son Pankaj Bhujbal is contesting on an NCP ticket.
Nandgaon, a drought-prone and an undeveloped tehsil has a total electorate of 2, 81,790 including 1, 37,295 women with total 291 polling centres.
In 1999 Congress's Anil Kumar Aher and in 2004 Shiv Sena's Sanjay Pawar got elected from this constituency.
Poonam Mahajan: Poonam Mahajan, daughter of late Pramod Mahajan, a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government, is contesting on BJP ticket from the newly-carved Ghatkopar (West) assembly constituency of Maharashtra.
Two feisty first-time lady candidates with a family pedigree to envy make the contest for the Ghatkopar (West) very interesting. The Congress has fielded Janet D'Souza, daughter of the late Celine D'Silva, a Minister in Vasantdada Patil's Government in the late-1980s as its candidate.
The constituency has a total electorate of around 2.71-lakh and the battle is expected to be mainly between these two ladies, both of whom are off-springs of well-known parents. Political observers give Poonam a slight edge given that her father late Pramod Mahajan had represented the Mumbai North-East Lok Sabha constituency in the past and also due to the fact that the constituency has a sizeable number of Gujarati voters, traditionally considered BJP-supporters.
The area has BJP-Shiv Sena (its ally) corporators in five civic wards and a sitting MLA, Pravin Chheda, who incidentally has been denied a ticket in favour of Poonam.
Shalini Thackeray: She is a Punjabi born in Uttar Pradesh, contesting on the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) ticket. Shalini Thackeray, 40, is the first daughter-in-law from the politically powerful Maharashtrian family to enter the heat and dust of electoral politics. She is the wife of Jeetendra Thackeray, a cousin of MNS founder Raj Thackeray.
Shalini had unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha elections in Mumbai early this year. However, she had garnered substantial votes.
Rahul Pugalia: Son of former Chandrapur Congress MP Naresh Pugalia, Rahul Pugalia, came into limelight when he rushed to Wani in Yawatmal district and offered financial help to Kalavati, the widow of a debt-ridden farmer, whose plight was mentioned by Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi in Parliament.
The Ballarpur assembly constituency in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra is seeing a battle between experience and youth as senior BJP leader Sudhir Mungattiwar takes on Congress youth leader Rahul Pugalia.
A total of eight candidates, including three independents and one each from Bahujan Samaj Party, Republican Party of India and Gondwana Gantantra Party are in the fray.
Mungattiwar, whose Chandrapur constituency was declared a reserved seat following delimitation, is in the fray from Ballarpur. He has replaced sitting BJP MLA from Mul Saoli and former Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies, Shobhatai Phadanvis.
Satgonda Revgonda Patil: The 90-year-old farmer is contesting from Shirol assembly constituency of Kolhapur district of western Maharashtra on a Congress ticket.
Satgonda Revgonda Patil, who was denied a party ticket from the same constituency in 2004, was given one this time after Rahul Gandhi suggested his name.
On March 4, 2008, during a tour of western Maharashtra to study the plight of sugarcane growers, Rahul happened to visit Patil's greenhouse. The then 89-year-old's zest impressed the young Congress MP, who suggested the party to nominate Patil for the assembly polls.
The nonagenarian is, however, not new to electoral politics. Half a century ago, in 1957, he had won the assembly polls against a Congress nominee. He later concentrated on farming and still works for well over 12 hours in the field, explaining other farmers, new agriculture techniques. In 1991, Patil fought Lok Sabha polls as an Independent, but lost. He won the 1999 assembly polls from Shirol as a Congress candidate.
Amit Deshmukh: Son of Union Heavy Industries Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Amit Deshmukh, is the Congress candidate from Latur (urban) constituency. He is locked in a quadrangular contest with Annarao Patil of the Third Front, Pappu Kulkarni of Shiv Sena and Qayum Khan of BSP.
In 1995, two years after the devastating earthquake, a political tremor rocked Vilasrao Deshmukh as he lost to a relatively unknown Janata Dal nominee Shivajirao Patil Kavhekar in the assembly election. In 1999, Deshmukh avenged his defeat winning back Latur with a margin of around 80,000 votes inflicting a humiliating defeat on Kavhekar who forfeited his deposit.
Not wanting to take any chance, Vilasrao has wooed Kavhekar back into Congress and persuaded him to withdraw candidature against Amit. Kavhekar had quit NCP in 2003 to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Deshmukh also won the seat in 2004 but quit it this year after being elected to the Rajya Sabha. Post-delimitation, Latur seat was bifurcated into Latur urban and rural seats, incorporating parts of the Renapur seat earlier represented by BJP general secretary Gopinath Munde.
HARYANA
Om Parkash Chautala: Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) chief Om Parkash Chautala is contesting from Uchana Kalan assembly constituency in Jind district of Haryana against state Finance Minister Birender Singh. The former chief minister had contested against Power Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala from Narwana unsuccessfully in the last assembly elections.
Son of the former deputy prime minister, Chautala has been forced out of his traditional seats- Rori and Narwana- due to the delimitation of assembly constituencies in the state. While Rori has been merged into Kalanwali, which is reserved for Scheduled Castes, Narwana too has been reserved.
Chautala opted for Uchana Kalan as it is considered a bastion of INLD. The clash between Chautala and Birender Singh will make the contest for this seat interesting.
Bhupinder Singh Hooda: Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is contesting on Congress ticket from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi assembly constituency of Rohtak district. He has been elected to the Lok Sabha four times in 1991, 1996, 1998, and 2004. He was opposition leader in Haryana's Legislative Assembly from 2001 to 2004. In the year 1991, he defeated Chaudhary Devi Lal who was then the deputy Prime Minister of India.
Hooda also served as the president of Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee from 1996 to 2001. He is well known for leading various farmer movements in Haryana.
Randeep Surjewala: Electricity shortage in Haryana stares at the face of the state's Power Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala, who is contesting from Kaithal. The 42-year-old Congress leader, who had defeated INLD president Om Prakash Chautala in 2005 when he was state's chief minister, faces a four-cornered contest this time. Crossing swords with candidates from BJP, INLD and Haryana Janhit Congress, Surjewala is banking on development works initiated by his father Shamsher Singh Surjewala and the state government. He has also assured the voters that power situation would improve in the coming months following commissioning of new projects near Hissar and Jhajjar.
Surjewala shifted to Kaithal because Narwana became a reserved constituency after delimitation. His father, an MLA in the dissolved assembly, is not contesting in this election. Other prominent contestants in the fray are Kailash Bhagat (INLD), Surinder Madan (HJC-BL) and Ravi Bhushan Garg (BJP). They have been raking-up the alleged failures of the state government on various fronts in course of their campaign.
Yograj Singh: The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) is hoping to score big runs by fielding former test cricketer Yograj Singh from the newly-constituted Panchkula assembly constituency of Haryana. Singh is the father of the Indian cricket team vice-captain, Yuvraj Singh. Having played one Test and six ODIs for India as a right-arm fast-medium bowler, Yograj Singh saw his career fall prey to an injury. His next step was into the Punjabi film industry, where he made an appearance in nearly 150 films. However, he failed to make a big impression on the audience.
Shakuntala Khatak: At a time when politicians in patriarchal Haryana do not hesitate to show off their luxury SUVs and cars during electioneering, a woman contestant of the ruling Congress party is happy to run her campaign on a motorbike.
Shakuntala Khatak, who is contesting on Congress ticket from Kalanaur reserved constituency, does not want to change her image of being a 'commoner' in the electoral fray.
Khatak, 41, a staff nurse at the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) in Rohtak, prefers to ride her black Hero Honda passion motorbike. She drives the bike herself to these places even though most of her party supporters follow her on cars and SUVs. Having used the motorcycle while going for work and political activities, Khatak has earned the image of being an avid biker. The seat was represented by former Haryana health minister Kartar Devi in the previous assembly. Kartar Devi died in August following prolonged illness.
ARUNACHAL PRADESH
Dorjee Khandu: He is the incumbent chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh. Khandu has created a record of elected unopposed for three consecutive times from Mukto. Three of Congress nominees including chief minister Dorjee Khandu are all set to be declared elected unopposed as no nominations were filed against them. He was elected unopposed from Mukto constituency in Tawang district, bordering China, in 1999 and 2004 too. Khandu was sworn on April 9, 2007 as the fifth chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh, replacing Gegong Apang. He has assets worth Rs 22 crore.
Gegong Apang: Apang, who was elected seven times consecutively from Tuting-Vinkiong, is the Congress nominee from this constituency.
In the last Assembly elections in 2004, former chief minister Gegong Apang was the richest candidate with his Rs 9 crore-plus assets. But in the last five years, he has only gone poorer. According to the survey, his assets are worth Rs 7 crore and he managed to clinch the 14th position this time.
Nabam Tuki: Nabam Tuki is the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president and state PWD minister. He was elected unopposed from Dirang assembly constituency in the last assembly elections. However, this time he is facing a multi-cornered fight.
The last Assembly election (2004) saw three Congress candidates getting elected un-contested. The present Chief Minister, Dorjee Khandu was elected from Mukto Assembly constituency. The other two candidates are Tsering Gurme and Nabam Tuki from Dirang and Sagalee assembly constituencies respectively.
Nabam Rebia: Former Rajya Sabha member Nabam Rebia is the Congress nominee for the Doimukh assembly seat of Arunachal Pradesh. He is second in the crorepati list with assets worth over Rs 24 crore, closely followed by incumbent chief minister Dorjee Khandu (Rs 22 crore-plus).
Counting of votes for assembly elections inMaharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh will be taken up soon and the ten-day long suspense over who will form the next government isexpected to be over in a few hours. Here is the list of heavyweights in the fray from each state.
MAHARASHTRA
Narayan Rane: Maharashtra's Industries Minister Narayan Rane, who made an unsuccessful bid for the chief ministerial post last December, is trying his luck from Kudal constituency.
Rane, who was the chief minister of Maharashtra during the Sena-BJP rule, represented the Malwan assembly constituency for four consecutive terms. He joined Congress in 2005 after being expelled from the Shiv Sena. In November 2005 by-polls, soon after he joined Congress, Rane had trounced Sena candidate Parshuram Uparkar where the latter lost his deposit.
Despite the controversies surrounding him, he has nurtured a strong support base in Kudal over the years. The Shiv Sena has fielded the 30-year old district chief of the party, Vaibhav Naik, against Rane who himself was a strong Sena man in the past.
Ever since he left the party, the Sena has been struggling in the Konkan region with the Congress gaining an upper hand. The Kudal assembly segment gave a lead of 10,000 votes to Nilesh Rane, son of Narayan Rane who contested from Sindhudurg Lok Sabha constituency.
Ashok Chavan: The incumbent Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Ashok Chavan, is seeking re-election to the Maharashtra Assembly from Bhokar constituency. Chavan has inherited the political legacy of his late father and former chief minister S B Chavan, becoming the first father-son duo in the state's history to adorn the chief ministerial chair.
Ashok Chavan began his political career riding piggyback on his father's political clout in 1987 when he was elected to Lok Sabha from Nanded. In 1999, he was elected as a Member of Legislative Assembly from Mudkhed constituency and inducted as a Cabinet minister for Revenue and Protocol. In 2003, he became minister for Transport, Ports, Cultural Affairs and Protocol. In November 2004, Chavan became Minister for Industries, Mining, and Cultural Affairs & Protocol. Prior to joining the government, Chavan was general secretary of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (1995 to 1999).
Vinod Kambli: Cricketer-turned-politician Vinod Kambli is contesting the Maharashtra Assembly election from Vikhroli constituency. Kambli is a candidate of Lok Bharati Party.
Born in the chawls of Mumbai, Kambli's exciting start to a Test career made him a sporting star. Being the first Dalit from Mumbai to play for India has made him an even more attractive choice for the Lok Bharati Party, which is projecting itself as pro poor, and pro Dalit party.
The Third Front parties like the Samajwadi Party, Republican Party of India, Janata Dal and other Left parties have all expressed their support for Kambli. Though Kambli has been in news for all the wrong reasons lately, laying bare his thoughts on old friend Sachin Tendulkar on a reality show, his party is hoping the batsman's knack for staying in the spotlight will help draw more votes.
Anna Joshi: Former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Anna Joshi left the party to join the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), giving a jolt to the Saffron alliance in Maharashtra. Joshi has been amongst the senior most BJP leaders from Pune. He is contesting from the Kothrud assembly constituency on an NCP ticket, where the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance has fielded Chandrakant Mokate.
Anna was a two-time MLA before becoming an MP. He has also held the post of deputy speaker of Maharashtra Assembly. It said that Joshi was disillusioned after he was denied the ticket in the last Lok Sabha elections, and now again for assembly elections.
Pankaj Bhujbal: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal has put his campaigning might in Nandgaon assembly constituency in Nashik district, from where his son Pankaj Bhujbal is contesting on an NCP ticket.
Nandgaon, a drought-prone and an undeveloped tehsil has a total electorate of 2, 81,790 including 1, 37,295 women with total 291 polling centres.
In 1999 Congress's Anil Kumar Aher and in 2004 Shiv Sena's Sanjay Pawar got elected from this constituency.
Poonam Mahajan: Poonam Mahajan, daughter of late Pramod Mahajan, a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government, is contesting on BJP ticket from the newly-carved Ghatkopar (West) assembly constituency of Maharashtra.
Two feisty first-time lady candidates with a family pedigree to envy make the contest for the Ghatkopar (West) very interesting. The Congress has fielded Janet D'Souza, daughter of the late Celine D'Silva, a Minister in Vasantdada Patil's Government in the late-1980s as its candidate.
The constituency has a total electorate of around 2.71-lakh and the battle is expected to be mainly between these two ladies, both of whom are off-springs of well-known parents. Political observers give Poonam a slight edge given that her father late Pramod Mahajan had represented the Mumbai North-East Lok Sabha constituency in the past and also due to the fact that the constituency has a sizeable number of Gujarati voters, traditionally considered BJP-supporters.
The area has BJP-Shiv Sena (its ally) corporators in five civic wards and a sitting MLA, Pravin Chheda, who incidentally has been denied a ticket in favour of Poonam.
Shalini Thackeray: She is a Punjabi born in Uttar Pradesh, contesting on the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) ticket. Shalini Thackeray, 40, is the first daughter-in-law from the politically powerful Maharashtrian family to enter the heat and dust of electoral politics. She is the wife of Jeetendra Thackeray, a cousin of MNS founder Raj Thackeray.
Shalini had unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha elections in Mumbai early this year. However, she had garnered substantial votes.
Rahul Pugalia: Son of former Chandrapur Congress MP Naresh Pugalia, Rahul Pugalia, came into limelight when he rushed to Wani in Yawatmal district and offered financial help to Kalavati, the widow of a debt-ridden farmer, whose plight was mentioned by Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi in Parliament.
The Ballarpur assembly constituency in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra is seeing a battle between experience and youth as senior BJP leader Sudhir Mungattiwar takes on Congress youth leader Rahul Pugalia.
A total of eight candidates, including three independents and one each from Bahujan Samaj Party, Republican Party of India and Gondwana Gantantra Party are in the fray.
Mungattiwar, whose Chandrapur constituency was declared a reserved seat following delimitation, is in the fray from Ballarpur. He has replaced sitting BJP MLA from Mul Saoli and former Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies, Shobhatai Phadanvis.
Satgonda Revgonda Patil: The 90-year-old farmer is contesting from Shirol assembly constituency of Kolhapur district of western Maharashtra on a Congress ticket.
Satgonda Revgonda Patil, who was denied a party ticket from the same constituency in 2004, was given one this time after Rahul Gandhi suggested his name.
On March 4, 2008, during a tour of western Maharashtra to study the plight of sugarcane growers, Rahul happened to visit Patil's greenhouse. The then 89-year-old's zest impressed the young Congress MP, who suggested the party to nominate Patil for the assembly polls.
The nonagenarian is, however, not new to electoral politics. Half a century ago, in 1957, he had won the assembly polls against a Congress nominee. He later concentrated on farming and still works for well over 12 hours in the field, explaining other farmers, new agriculture techniques. In 1991, Patil fought Lok Sabha polls as an Independent, but lost. He won the 1999 assembly polls from Shirol as a Congress candidate.
Amit Deshmukh: Son of Union Heavy Industries Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Amit Deshmukh, is the Congress candidate from Latur (urban) constituency. He is locked in a quadrangular contest with Annarao Patil of the Third Front, Pappu Kulkarni of Shiv Sena and Qayum Khan of BSP.
In 1995, two years after the devastating earthquake, a political tremor rocked Vilasrao Deshmukh as he lost to a relatively unknown Janata Dal nominee Shivajirao Patil Kavhekar in the assembly election. In 1999, Deshmukh avenged his defeat winning back Latur with a margin of around 80,000 votes inflicting a humiliating defeat on Kavhekar who forfeited his deposit.
Not wanting to take any chance, Vilasrao has wooed Kavhekar back into Congress and persuaded him to withdraw candidature against Amit. Kavhekar had quit NCP in 2003 to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Deshmukh also won the seat in 2004 but quit it this year after being elected to the Rajya Sabha. Post-delimitation, Latur seat was bifurcated into Latur urban and rural seats, incorporating parts of the Renapur seat earlier represented by BJP general secretary Gopinath Munde.
HARYANA
Om Parkash Chautala: Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) chief Om Parkash Chautala is contesting from Uchana Kalan assembly constituency in Jind district of Haryana against state Finance Minister Birender Singh. The former chief minister had contested against Power Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala from Narwana unsuccessfully in the last assembly elections.
Son of the former deputy prime minister, Chautala has been forced out of his traditional seats- Rori and Narwana- due to the delimitation of assembly constituencies in the state. While Rori has been merged into Kalanwali, which is reserved for Scheduled Castes, Narwana too has been reserved.
Chautala opted for Uchana Kalan as it is considered a bastion of INLD. The clash between Chautala and Birender Singh will make the contest for this seat interesting.
Bhupinder Singh Hooda: Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is contesting on Congress ticket from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi assembly constituency of Rohtak district. He has been elected to the Lok Sabha four times in 1991, 1996, 1998, and 2004. He was opposition leader in Haryana's Legislative Assembly from 2001 to 2004. In the year 1991, he defeated Chaudhary Devi Lal who was then the deputy Prime Minister of India.
Hooda also served as the president of Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee from 1996 to 2001. He is well known for leading various farmer movements in Haryana.
Randeep Surjewala: Electricity shortage in Haryana stares at the face of the state's Power Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala, who is contesting from Kaithal. The 42-year-old Congress leader, who had defeated INLD president Om Prakash Chautala in 2005 when he was state's chief minister, faces a four-cornered contest this time. Crossing swords with candidates from BJP, INLD and Haryana Janhit Congress, Surjewala is banking on development works initiated by his father Shamsher Singh Surjewala and the state government. He has also assured the voters that power situation would improve in the coming months following commissioning of new projects near Hissar and Jhajjar.
Surjewala shifted to Kaithal because Narwana became a reserved constituency after delimitation. His father, an MLA in the dissolved assembly, is not contesting in this election. Other prominent contestants in the fray are Kailash Bhagat (INLD), Surinder Madan (HJC-BL) and Ravi Bhushan Garg (BJP). They have been raking-up the alleged failures of the state government on various fronts in course of their campaign.
Yograj Singh: The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) is hoping to score big runs by fielding former test cricketer Yograj Singh from the newly-constituted Panchkula assembly constituency of Haryana. Singh is the father of the Indian cricket team vice-captain, Yuvraj Singh. Having played one Test and six ODIs for India as a right-arm fast-medium bowler, Yograj Singh saw his career fall prey to an injury. His next step was into the Punjabi film industry, where he made an appearance in nearly 150 films. However, he failed to make a big impression on the audience.
Shakuntala Khatak: At a time when politicians in patriarchal Haryana do not hesitate to show off their luxury SUVs and cars during electioneering, a woman contestant of the ruling Congress party is happy to run her campaign on a motorbike.
Shakuntala Khatak, who is contesting on Congress ticket from Kalanaur reserved constituency, does not want to change her image of being a 'commoner' in the electoral fray.
Khatak, 41, a staff nurse at the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) in Rohtak, prefers to ride her black Hero Honda passion motorbike. She drives the bike herself to these places even though most of her party supporters follow her on cars and SUVs. Having used the motorcycle while going for work and political activities, Khatak has earned the image of being an avid biker. The seat was represented by former Haryana health minister Kartar Devi in the previous assembly. Kartar Devi died in August following prolonged illness.
ARUNACHAL PRADESH
Dorjee Khandu: He is the incumbent chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh. Khandu has created a record of elected unopposed for three consecutive times from Mukto. Three of Congress nominees including chief minister Dorjee Khandu are all set to be declared elected unopposed as no nominations were filed against them. He was elected unopposed from Mukto constituency in Tawang district, bordering China, in 1999 and 2004 too. Khandu was sworn on April 9, 2007 as the fifth chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh, replacing Gegong Apang. He has assets worth Rs 22 crore.
Gegong Apang: Apang, who was elected seven times consecutively from Tuting-Vinkiong, is the Congress nominee from this constituency.
In the last Assembly elections in 2004, former chief minister Gegong Apang was the richest candidate with his Rs 9 crore-plus assets. But in the last five years, he has only gone poorer. According to the survey, his assets are worth Rs 7 crore and he managed to clinch the 14th position this time.
Nabam Tuki: Nabam Tuki is the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president and state PWD minister. He was elected unopposed from Dirang assembly constituency in the last assembly elections. However, this time he is facing a multi-cornered fight.
The last Assembly election (2004) saw three Congress candidates getting elected un-contested. The present Chief Minister, Dorjee Khandu was elected from Mukto Assembly constituency. The other two candidates are Tsering Gurme and Nabam Tuki from Dirang and Sagalee assembly constituencies respectively.
Nabam Rebia: Former Rajya Sabha member Nabam Rebia is the Congress nominee for the Doimukh assembly seat of Arunachal Pradesh. He is second in the crorepati list with assets worth over Rs 24 crore, closely followed by incumbent chief minister Dorjee Khandu (Rs 22 crore-plus).
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