Ahead of the February 14 Assembly polls, the Congress on Saturday released its first list of 86 candidates for Punjab, fielding Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi from his traditional seat of Chamkaur Sahib and PCC chief Navjot Singh Sidhu from Amritsar East.
Two Deputy Chief Ministers of the party Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Om Prakash Soni have been fielded from their traditional seats of Dera Baba Nanak and Amritsar Central respectively.
Without going for major surprises and not bothering for anti incumbency, Congress merely denied tickets to four sitting legislators, including the one who returned to the party six days after joining the BJP. They are Harjot Kamal from Moga, Balwinder Singh Laddi from Sri Hargobindpur Sahib, Nathu Ram from Balluana and Deputy Speaker of Punjab Assembly Ajaib Singh Bhatti from Malout. Laddi had quit the Congress and joined the BJP on December 28, but six days later, he returned to the Congress fold.
Controversial Punjabi singer Sidhu Mussewala, who joined the Congress some time ago will contest from Mansa and actor Sonu Sood’s sister Malvika Sood from Moga.
In another development, party’s Rajya Sabha MP Pratap Singh Bajwa will contest from the Qadian Assembly seat in Gurdaspur, which is represented by his brother Fatehjang Singh Bajwa.
The list was released after the party’s central election committee chaired by party chief Sonia Gandhi cleared the names in its meeting earlier.
Former PCC president and campaign committee chief Sunil Jakhar will not contest the Assembly polls.
His nephew Sandeep Jakhar will contest the Abohar Assembly seat instead. Similarly, Punjab Minister Brahm Mohindra will not contest and his son Mohit Mohindra will contest in his place from Patiala rural Assembly seat.
All other sitting Ministers will contest from their respective constituencies they currently represent. Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal will contest from Bathinda Urban, PWD Minister Vijay Inder Singla from Sangrur, Water Supply and Sanitation Minister Razia Sultana from Malerkotla and Industries Minister Gurkirat Singh Kotli from Khanna.
Other Ministers like Rana Gurjit Singh will contest from his Kapurthala Assembly constituency, Tript Rajinder Bajwa from Fatehgarh Churian, Randeep Singh Nabha from Amloh, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring from Gidderbaha and Pargat Singh from Jalandhar Cantt. Besides Ministers like Sangat Singh Gilzian has been fielded from his Urmar seat, Aruna Chaudhary from Dina Nanagar, Raj Kumar Verka from Amritsar West-SC, Sukhbinder Sarkaria from Rajasansi, and Bharat Bhushan Ashu from Ludhiana West.
The Congress also gave tickets to Balbir Singh Sidhu, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Sunder Sham Arora and Gurpreet Singh Kangar, who were dropped from the Ministries after Channi took over from Amarinder Singh as the Chief Minister last year. Punjab Assembly elections are slated in a single phase on February 14 and the results will be out on March 10.
The party is yet to declare its candidate for the Patiala Urban constituency which was represented by former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. The party will also declare its remaining 31 seats for the 117 member Assembly soon.