Punjab elections: BJP announces names of 34 candidates in first list
BJP general secretary Tarun Chugh said the party has given representation to all sections of society and the first list included 12 people from farmer families, nine from Scheduled Castes, and some professionals.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday announced its first list of 34 candidates, including 13 Sikhs, nine Dalits and two women, for the February 20 assembly elections in Punjab.
BJP general secretary Tarun Chugh said the party has given representation to all sections of society and the first list included 12 people from farmer families, nine from Scheduled Castes, and some professionals.
“Tickets have been given to 12 candidates who belong to farmers’ families, eight tickets to members of the SC community, 13 tickets to Sikhs. The list has doctors, lawyers, sportspersons, farmers, youth, women, and former IAS,” Chugh said.
The party’s first list includes former Congress minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi who joined the BJP recently.
On its traditional strongholds such as Jalandhar Central, Jalandhar North, Fazilka and Hoshiarpur, the party has mostly banked upon its old guards by fielding Manoranjan Kalia, KD Bhandari, Surjit Jyani and Tikshan Sud, respectively.
State BJP chief Ashwani Sharma, whose nomination from Pathankot assembly segment was looking certain, was not fielded by the party. Instead, the party has fielded sitting MLA Dinesh Babbu from the seat.
Three Congress leaders, who shifted to the BJP recently, were also given tickets. These include former minister Rana Gurmit Sodhi, from Hindu-dominated Ferozepur Urban seat, and Nimisha Mehta, once a close aide of chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, from Garhshankar seat. Mehta joined the BJP immediately after he was refused a ticket from the Congress.
The saffron party is fighting the polls for the 117-assembly seats in alliance with Punjab Lok Congress led by Capt Amarinder Singh and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa-led Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt).