Punjab Congress Chief Navjot Singh Sidhu  |  Photo Credit: ANI
Chandigarh: The Congress on Tuesday released its second list of candidates for the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections. The party has so far announced 109 candidates (out of 117 seats) as it looks to retain power in the state.
The new list of 23 candidates also includes former chief minister Harcharan Singh Brar’s daughter-in-law Karan Brar (Muktsar). Another former Punjab chief minister, Rajinder Kaur Bhathal’s son-in-law Vikram Bajwa meanwhile has been fielded from the Sahnewal constituency. Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu’s aide Smit Singh has been fielded from the Amargarh assembly seat.
While he had lost the previous election, former Punjab minister Ashwani Sekhri has been fielded yet again from the Batala seat. Former MLA Harchand Kaur has been fielded from Mehal Kalan (SC) constituency while Ramanjeet Singh Sikki will be contesting from the Khadoor Sahib constituency. Joginder Pala, the sitting MLA from Bhoa (SC) seat will be looking to retain the same seat.
The sitting MLAs of the Ferozepur Rural, Samrala, Amargarh and Shutrana assembly seats have been denied tickets. Notably, the party is yet to declare a candidate for the Patiala Urban seat which is presently held by former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh. No names have been announced for Nawanshahr (currently represented by party legislator Angad Saini) and Jalalabad.
Raja Gill has been fielded from the Samrala seat in place of Amrik Singh Dhillon, while Vijay Kalra replaced sitting MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh Sodhi (who had recently defected to the BJP) as the candidate for Guru Har Sahai.
In related news, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will be travelling to the poll-bound state tomorrow for a brief visit. As per the schedule shared by Sidhu on Twitter, he will be paying obeisance at the Golden Temple along with all 117 party candidates, before they all sit down for a langar on Thursday. He will also pay obeisance at the Durgiana temple and Bhagwan Valmiki Tirath Sthal before addressing a virtual rally of the party from Jalandhar’s Mithapur.
Voting for the Punjab assembly elections are slated to take place on February 20, with votes being counted on March 10