Punjab polls: BJP releases first list of 34 candidates, 13 of them are Sikhs
The list was released during a press briefing where Punjab BJP in-charge Dushyant Gautam, party national general secretary Tarun Chugh, and Union Minister Hardip Puri were present.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday released its first list of 34 candidates for the upcoming Punjab assembly elections to be held next month. The list, however, doesn't include those of Chamkaur Sahib and Amritsar East from where Punjab chief minister and Congress leader Charanjit Singh Channi and Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu will be contesting.
The list was announced in a press conference held in Delhi where Punjab BJP in-charge Dushyant Gautam, party national general secretary Tarun Chugh, and Union Minister Hardip Puri were present.
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Of the 34 candidates, as many as 12 hail from farmers' families while eight and 13 tickets have been given to those from the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Sikh communities, respectively. The list also contains lawyers, sportspersons, women, doctors and former IAD officer.
Here are names of some candidates released by the BJP today:
- Advocate Bikram Singh Siddhu to contest from Ludhiana West
- Former IAS SR Laddhar (Retd) to contest from Gill segment of Ludhiana district.
- Former Congress MLA Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, who joined the BJP last year in December, to contest from Ferozepur constituency.
- Former Punjab state health minister Surjit Kumar Jiyani to contest from Fazilka.
- Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) stalwart late Gurcharan Singh Tohra's grandson Kanwarveer Singh Tohra, who joined the BJP last week, to contest from Amloh constituency.
The forthcoming Punjab elections will see the Congress party aiming to retain power in the northern state. This polls will be the first time since the major drama around former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, which saw him resigning from the post and subsequently existing the grand old party in November last year. Later, the Captain announced coalition with the saffron party to fight the Punjab polls and even declared his own party ‘Punjab Lok Congress’.
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Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is the primary opposition in Punjab, is looking to form the government this year. Bhagwant Mann has been made the chief ministerial face of the Arvind Kejriwal-led party, and he will contest from Dhuri constituency.
Punjab assembly elections will be held on February 20, after all prominent political parties requested the Election Commission of India (ECI) to reschedule owing to Guru Ravi Das Jayanti that falls on February 16. The polls were originally scheduled on February 14.
The counting of votes will take place on March 10 as was decided earlier.