Congress is likely to announce their first list of candidates in the upcoming days seeing as BJP and AAP have already made their candidates official. Aam Aadmi Party released a list of candidates from 9 Punjab Constituencies on March 14. BJP followed suit, announcing candidates for 5 constituencies on March 31. The AICC-appointed screening committee for Punjab will meet tomorrow to finalise candidates before sending it to the central election committee for final approval. Sources said nominees from Jalandhar, Fatehgarh Sahib, Patiala, Gurdaspur and Ferozepur to be declared in the first list. The candidates on the remaning seats would be declared in the second list. Here is a look at the probable candidates for the Punjab LS polls on June 1.
As per sources, name of former MP Vijay Inder Singla, Sukhpal Khaira and Simrat Khangura is among the most favoured for the Sangrur Constituency. Vijay Inder Singla had won the Lok Sabha elections in Sangrur in 2017 and 2014. At the same time, Manish Tiwari, the sitting MP of Sri Anandpur Sahib is looking for a Ludhiana ticket, while the party wants to contest him in Sri Anandpur Sahib. In Jalandhar, Congress is likely to put up Former Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi due to his strong affinity from the Dalit community. Despite, opposition from Vikramjit Chaudhary, Channi has the support of the Local Jalandhar MLAs, as per sources.
Meanwhile, in Ludhiana, BJP announced former whip of the Congress Party Ravneet Bittu as their candidate. His surprise switch to the BJP along with several other notable politicians left Congress scratching their heads regarding a likely candidate for Ludhiana. Bittu was a prominent name for Congress, being the son of former Punjab CM, Beant Singh and a multiple time winner from Ludhiana. As per sources, Congress is looking to contest former Hockey player-turned-politician Pargat Singh, with the sources also suggesting that Manish Tiwari is gunning for the Ludhiana seat.
It is also likely to be battle of political families as according to sources, congress is likely to field Amrita Warring, wife of Congress state President, Raja Warring. She is likely to be going against sitting MP, SAD’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal. Along with Warring, the name of Inderjit Singh is also a strong contender as per our sources.
Here is a probable list of candidates from Congress in Punjab, as per sources:
Sangrur: Vijay Inder Singla, Simrat Khangura, Sukhpal Khaira
Gurdaspur: Barindermeet Singh Pahra, Charanjit Kaur Bajwa (Pratap Bajwa Wife)
Jalandhar: Charanjit Singh Channi (Ex-Chief Minister of Punjab), Kamaljit Chaudhary, Vikramjit Chaudhary (family of former MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary)
Ludhiana: Pargat Singh, Manish Tiwari, Brij Bushan Ashu
Bathinda: Amrita Warring (Congress State President Raja Warring’s wife), Inderjit Muffar
Sri Anandpur Sahib: Manish Tiwari, Balvir Sidhu, Rana Gurjeet Singh
Amritsar: Gurjeet Aujla, OP Soni (former state Deputy CM)
Khadoor Sahib: Jasbir Singh Dimpa, Rana Gurjeet Singh, Harminder Gill