Punjab assembly elections: Nominations come to a close, 261 file papers from 14 seats in Ludhiana
Prominent among those who filed the nominations on Tuesday were Sanyukt Samaj Morcha (SSM) chief Balbir Singh Rajewal from Samrala, Bhartiya Arthik Party (BAP) president Tarun Jain Bawa, former cabinet minister Gurkirat Kotli from Khanna.
As many as 97 candidates submitted their papers on the last day of filing of nominations for the Punjab assembly elections, on Tuesday. With this, the total number of contestants, including covering candidates, in fray for 14 assembly seats in the district went up to 261.
Prominent among those who filed the nominations on Tuesday were Sanyukt Samaj Morcha (SSM) chief Balbir Singh Rajewal from Samrala, Bhartiya Arthik Party (BAP) president Tarun Jain Bawa, former cabinet minister Gurkirat Kotli from Khanna, sitting MLA Lakhvir Singh Lakha from Payal, Congress candidate Ishwarjot Singh Cheema and BJP candidate Satinderpal Tajpuri from Ludhiana South constituency.
The 79-year-old Rajewal owns movable assets worth ₹1.5 crore and immovable assets worth over ₹1.82 crore. He has liabilities worth ₹28 lakh.
Similarly, Tarun Jain Bawa has movable assets worth ₹1.34 crore, while he has no liabilities or immovable assets on his name.
Congress candidate Kotli has declared movable assets worth ₹22.76 lakh and immovable assets worth ₹1.86 crore. He has no criminal background. His wife Gurpreet Kaur filed papers as his covering candidate.
Sitting Payal MLA and Congress candidate from the constituency, Lakhvir Singh Lakha declared movable assets worth ₹75.06 lakh and immovable assets worth ₹85 lakh. His wife Kamlesh Kaur submitted papers as his covering candidate. Lakha has no criminal background as per the affidavit.
Submitting the nominations from Ludhiana South constituency, Congress candidate from Ludhiana South Ishwarjot Singh Cheema declared movable assets worth ₹15.31 lakh and movable assets worth ₹45 lakh in the affidavit.
Punjab Lok Congress (PLC)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Satinderpal Singh Tajpuri and BJP rebel Surinder Sharma, who is fighting as an independent, submitted their nominations from South. Tajpuri disclosed movable and immovable assets worth ₹26.56 lakh and ₹3.25 crore respectively. An FIR is registered against Tajpuri in Solan of Himachal Pradesh under Arms Act.
Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) candidates Randhir Singh Sibia and Gurjodh Singh Gill submitted their nominations from Ludhiana North and East constituencies respectively. LIP candidates Gurmit Singh, Tejinder Kaur and Jagdep Singh filed papers from Sahnewal, Jagraon and Payal constituency respectively.
SAD (Sanyukt) candidates Harpreet Singh Garcha, Gurpal Singh and Harshit Kumar filed nominations from Sahnewal, Raikot and Payal assembly segments. SAD (Sanyukt) is contesting elections in alliance with BJP and PLC.
District election officer-cum-deputy commissioner Varinder Sharma said that scrutiny of nomination papers will be done on Wednesday (February 2) and candidates will be allowed to withdraw their nominations on February 4.