Haryana polls: Cong names 7 more candidates, fields journalist from Rania
New Delhi/Chandigarh (PTI): The Congress on Thursday released two fresh lists of a total of seven candidates for the Haryana assembly polls, fielding former MLA Naresh Selwal from Uklana reserve seat and a journalist, who recently joined the party, from Rania.
With the fourth and fifth lists, the party has declared candidates on 88 of the 90 seats.
Thursday is the last day of filing of nominations.
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 Selwal from Uklana (SC) and Jasbir Singh from Narnuad.
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, 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 October 5 and the counting of votes will be undertaken on October 8.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
