Haryana polls: BJP releases first list, features Babita Phogat, Yogeshwar Dutt

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party released its first list of 78 candidates for the election to Haryana's 90-seat assembly, just a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party chief BJP Amit Shah and senior leaders huddled together at the BJP headquarters in central Delhi for over three hours to select the candidates, reported NDTV.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar of the BJP will contest the state election from Karnal assembly seat, while sports stars Babita Phogat and Yogeshwar Dutt will get BJP tickets.

Haryana BJP chief Subhash Barala will fight from Tohana. Phogat has been given Dari and Mr Dutt Baroda.

In the 2014 state election, the BJP won 47 and the Congress 15; the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) took 19. The rest were won by other regional parties and independents.

The BJP has already held several rallies in Haryana, where it faces a fragmented opposition. One of its major election issues is the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise to filter out illegal immigrants in the state, similar to the one carried out in Assam.