Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Former Haryana Chief Minister ML Khattar to contest from Karnal – 5 points

Former Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar will contest the Lok Sabha elections from Karnal constituency on the ticket of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Mr Khattar resigned as chief minister this week and was succeeded by his party colleague Nayab Singh Saini. Mr. Khattar, a seasoned politician who has been a member of the Haryana Assembly since 2014, will now contest his first Lok Sabha polls.

Here are some facts about Manohar Lal Khattar:

1) Mr. Khattar was the first in his family to pursue studies beyond class 10. He studied at Neki Ram Sharma Government College, Rohtak. Khattar, 69, ran a shop near Sardar Bazar while he was a graduate from Delhi University. He hails from Nindana village in Rohtak district.

2) In 1980, Mr. Khattar became the full-time pracharak of RSS and continued to hold this position for 14 years.

3) The former Haryana Chief Minister joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1994 and soon became the party’s national executive member. He played a key role in the BJP’s victory in states like Punjab, Haryana and Chhattisgarh. In 2004, he was appointed to take charge of organizational work in 12 states including Delhi and Rajasthan. Mr. Khattar has served as General Secretary (Organization) of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh.

4) He served as the Chairman of the Haryana Campaign Committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Manohar Lal Khattar was sworn in as the chief minister after winning the 2014 assembly elections. He became chief minister for the second time in 2019 after the BJP formed an alliance with Dushyant Chautala-led Janata Party (JJP).

5) Mr. Khattar resigned as Chief Minister of Haryana on March 13. A day later, his name was announced as the BJP candidate for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Karnal constituency. Mr. Khattar succeeds sitting BJP MP Sanjay Bhatia, who defeated Congress MP Kuldeep Sharma by 6,56,142 votes in 2019.