Aam Aadmi Party has announced five names for the Rajya Sabha from Punjab. MPs from Assam (two), Himachal (one), Kerala (three), Nagaland (one) and Tripura (one) are retiring on April 2, while five Rajya Sabha seats from Punjab will fall vacant on April 9 and names have to be submitted today for elections on March 31.
The names of the five candidates are Phagwara-based Lovely Professional University (LPU) Chancellor Ashok Mittal, Jalandhar-based cricketer Harbhajan Singh, party's co-in-charge Raghav Chadha, industrialist Sanjeev Arora from Ludhiana and Delhi IIT professor Dr. Sandeep Pathak.
Ashok Mittal, a law graduate, is the Founder Chancellor Lovely Professional University (LPU). He is recognized today as a celebrated academic reformer, social activist, philanthropist, and humanitarian. Lovely Professional University is amongst one of the largest single-campus university in India with more than 30,000 on-campus students from across all the states of India and 50 countries.
Cricketer Harbhajan Singh is a resident of Jalandhar and is close to CM Bhagwant Mann. Mann can hand him over the command of the Sports University.
Also read: Who is Ashok Mittal? Know everything about Punjab’s business tycoon and upcoming Rajya Sabha Member
The AAP recorded a thumping win in the Assembly polls by winning 92 of the 117 seats. The ruling Congress won 18 seats, a massive decline from 77 it had won in 2017, while the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) could manage only three seats. After the upcoming Rajya Sabha election, AAP's strength in the upper house is set to increase from three to eight.