Chandigarh: Five cupboard ministers, a well-liked comic, and a Congress turncoat determine within the Aam Aadmi Party’s listing of eight Lok Sabha candidates from Punjab.
For the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP, which got here to energy in Punjab in March 2022, the parliamentary election is nearly a mid-term appraisal of the Bhagwant Mann authorities. In fielding 5 of his cupboard colleagues, Mann is in a manner looking for a mandate for his authorities’s efficiency.
Punjab ministers Kuldeep Dhaliwal, Dr Balbir Singh, Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Gurmeet Singh Khudian and Laljit Singh Bhullar can be going through the electoral check this yr.
The get together has fielded common comic actor Karamjeet Anmol in what’s his political and electoral debut. Sitting AAP MP Sushil Kumar Rinku and Gurpreet Singh G.P., a Congress turncoat who joined the get together barely per week in the past, are the remaining two candidates.
There are 13 Lok Sabha seats, together with 4 reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates, in Punjab. In 2019, the Congress cornered eight seats, whereas the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) received two seats every. The AAP managed one solely.
#LokSabha2024 ਚੋਣਾਂ ਲਈ ਆਮ ਆਦਮੀ ਪਾਰਟੀ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦੇ ਪਹਿਲੇ ਅੱਠ ਉਮੀਦਵਾਰ!!
ਵੇਰਵੇ 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/UxOOChrnEC
— AAP Punjab (@AAPPunjab) March 14, 2024
In Patiala, the AAP has fielded Punjab well being minister Dr Balbir Singh. He was taken into the cupboard final yr and has been on the forefront of executing the promise of the get together to supply inexpensive well being companies by the aam aadmi clinics.
An eye surgeon by occupation, Dr Singh began his political profession a long time in the past taking part within the J.P. Movement. He was related to the India Against Corruption motion in New Delhi after which he joined the AAP in 2014.
He contested elections from Patiala rural meeting seat in 2017 however misplaced to Congress senior chief Brahm Mohindra. In 2022, he received the seat defeating Mohindra’s son Mohit.
The Patiala parliamentary seat is presently held by former chief minister Amarinder Singh’s spouse Preneet Kaur. She left the Congress and joined the BJP in New Delhi on Thursday, and is predicted to be the BJP candidate on this seat.
Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, rural growth and panchayats minister who additionally has the NRI portfolio, will contest from Amritsar. He is the MLA from Ajnala, one of many 9 meeting segments falling within the Amritsar parliamentary seat.
Dhaliwal had contested the parliamentary elections in 2019, however ended up as second runner-up behind Congress candidate and winner Gurjeet Singh Aujla and SAD-BJP candidate Hardeep Puri.
As a minister, Dhaliwal has made a mark for himself in working an incessant marketing campaign to save lots of village widespread lands from non-public encroachments. Of the 9 meeting segments within the Amritsar parliamentary constituency, seven have AAP MLAs, making it a robust seat for the ruling get together.
Punjab transport minister Laljit Singh Bhullar has been fielded from Khadoor Sahib. Bhullar, the sitting MLA from Patti, had defeated four-time MLA and Akali cupboard minister Adaish Partap Singh Kairon in 2022.
Patti is among the 9 meeting segments of the Khadoor Sahib parliamentary constituency presently held by Congress MP Jasbir Singh Gill. Of the 9 Assembly constituencies, seven are held by the AAP, making Khadoor a tricky one for different events.
Agriculture minister and sitting MLA from Lambi, Gurmeet Singh Khuddian, is candidate from Bathinda. A former Congressman, Khuddian joined the AAP in July 2021. Khuddian’s father Jagdev Singh was an MP from Faridkot in 1989.
Khuddian made historical past in 2022 when he defeated SAD patriarch and five-time Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on the Badal stronghold of Lambi. This was the primary time since 1969 that the senior Badal had tasted an electoral defeat.
Though Khuddian proved to be a “giant slayer”, he was not taken into the Bhagwant Mann cupboard instantly. In reality, he was made a minister solely final yr.
Bathinda is presently held by Harsimrat Kaur Badal of the SAD. The former Union minister had defeated Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and AAP’s Baljinder Kaur in 2019. All the 9 meeting segments of Bathinda are presently held by the AAP.
Sports and youth affairs minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer is the AAP candidate from Mann’s erstwhile constituency Sangrur. He had received the 2017 meeting elections from Barnala and repeated the feat in 2022.
Sangrur is presently held by Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) head Simranjit Singh Maan, who received the Lok Sabha bypoll in 2022 after Mann vacated the seat on changing into the chief minister. All the 9 meeting segments of the seat are presently held by AAP MLAs.
Jalandhar MP Sushil Kumar Rinku, the AAP’s sole consultant within the Lok Sabha, will strive his luck once more from the constituency. The former Congressman received the Lok Sabha bypoll, which was necessitated after the demise of Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary in 2023.
In 2017, Rinku had received the Jalandhar West meeting seat on a Congress ticket, however misplaced to AAP’s Sheetal Angural 5 years on. He then joined the AAP forward of the Jalandhar bypoll. Of the 9 meeting segments within the Jalandhar parliamentary seat, 5 are held by the Congress and 4 by the AAP.
Gurpreet Singh G.P. has been fielded from Fatehgarh Sahib. The Congress ex-MLA joined the AAP final week. G.P. was elected from Bassi Pathana meeting phase in 2017, however misplaced to AAP’s Rupinder Singh Happy in 2022.
The reserved seat of Fatehgarh Sahib is presently held by Amar Singh of the Congress. All the 9 meeting segments of this seat are with the AAP.
A family identify in Punjab, Karamjit Anmol can be making his electoral debut from Faridkot. His hottest performances has been for the hit comedy ‘Carry On Jatta’.
Faridkot is presently held by singer-turned-politician Mohammad Sadiq of the Congress. Of the 9 meeting segments in Faridkot, eight are held by the AAP and one is with the Congress.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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