The BJP fielded two Congress turncoats and its former Union minister Vijay Sampla for next month’s Punjab Assembly polls as it released its second list of 27 candidates on Thursday. Later in the night, the party announced that it would field Jagmohan Singh Raju from the hotly contested Amritsar East seat against Congress state unit chief Navjot Singh Sidhu and senior Akali Dal leader Bikramjit Singh Majithia, the brother-in-law of SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal. The party also fielded Ram Chawla from Amritsar Central constituency and Manjit Singh Manna from Baba Bakala (SC) seat.
The BJP is contesting the polls in alliance with former chief minister Amarinder Singh’s Punjab Lok Congress and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa-led Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt). The BJP will fielding its candidates on 65 seats according to the seat-sharing arrangement with its allies. Earlier on Thursday, the BJP gave tickets to two sitting MLAs Fatehjang Singh Bajwa and Harjot Kamal, who had recently quit the Congress and joined the party. Qadian MLA Bajwa will be contesting this time from Batala. The Congress has fielded his elder brother Partap Singh Bajwa from Qadian.
Harjot Kamal will be in the fray from his current constituency Moga, where his former party has fielded actor and philanthropist Sonu Sood’s sister Malvika Sood, prompting the MLA to join the BJP. Vijay Sampla, who is currently the Chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, will contest from Phagwara. The BJP has made Rakesh Dhingra as its candidate from Lambi, the seat from where SAD patriarch and former CM Parkash Singh Badal will be contesting. BJP’s Randeep Singh Deol will be in the fray against AAP’s chief ministerial face Bhagwant Mann from Dhuri.
From Chamkaur Sahib, the BJP has fielded Darshan Singh Shivjot. Chamkaur Sahib is currently represented by Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi. The BJP has also fielded Iqbal Singh Lalpura, who is the chairperson of the National Commission of Minorities, from Rupnagar. Former Akali MLA Sarabjit Singh Makkar has been given ticket from Jalandhar Cantt. Makkar had joined the BJP after the Shiromani Akali Dal denied him the ticket from Jalandhar Cantt. From Bhoa, the party gave ticket to Seema Kumari while from Gurdaspur, it fielded Parminder Singh Gill. From Mohali and Ludhiana North seats, Sanjiv Vashishth and Parveen Bansal have been given tickets, respectively. Voting for Punjab’s 117 Assembly seats will be held on February 20 and the counting will take place on March 10.
Source: dnaindia.com