The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Haryana unit on Sunday expelled eight leaders from the party, including former state minister Ranjit Singh Chautala, for filing nominations as independent candidates for the upcoming state Assembly elections, PTI reported.

The 90-member Assembly in Haryana will head for the polls on October 5. The counting of votes will take place on October 8, alongside that of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections.

Apart from Chautala, the other leaders who have been expelled from the BJP include Sandeep Garg, who is contesting the polls from Ladwa, against Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini.

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Chautala quit the party after he was denied a ticket from Rania. He had previously represented the seat in the Assembly as an independent MLA.

Others who have been expelled are: Zile Ram Sharma, who is contesting from Assandh, Devender Kadian, contesting from Ganaur, Bachan Singh Arya, who has filed nominations from Safidon, Radha Ahlawat from Meham, Naveen Goel (from Gurugram) and Kehar Singh Rawat from Hathin.

Haryana BJP chief Mohan Lal Badoli said that the leaders were expelled for six years with immediate effect, according to PTI.

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Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year, Chautala had quit the membership of the Assembly and joined the BJP. He lost the parliamentary polls from Hisar.

Congress expels 10 leaders for ‘anti-party activities’

On Sunday, the Congress’ Haryana unit also expelled 10 leaders from the party for six years for “anti-party activities”, ANI reported.

Among those who have been expelled is Chitra Sarwara, who is contesting as an independent from the Ambala Cantonment. Others include Satvinder Rana, Kapoor Singh Narwal, Virender Ghoghrian, Somveer Ghasola, Manoj Kosliya, Ajit Guliya, Sharda Rathore, Lalit Nagar and Satveer Bhana.

Earlier on Friday, the unit expelled 13 other leaders for “anti-party activities” after they decided to contest the elections as independent candidates, PTI reported.