Chandigarh: Captain Amarinder Singh on Sunday announced the the first list of candidates contesting election from Punjab Lok Congress. The list consists 22 names of candidates, contesting assembly elections to be held on February 20 from 22 constituencies. Singh will contest from Patiala assembly seat, under his newly formed party Punjab Lok Congress.
The second list is likely to be released in two days. Singh said out of 22 candidates, 2 are from Majha, 3 from Doaba and 17 from Malwa region.
PLC has currently got 37 of the 117 seats in the state as part of its alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and SAD (Sanyukt), with discussions still in progress on possibly another five seats for the party.
Of the 37 seats in the PLC kitty, the maximum of 26 are from Malwa region. The PLC’s share in seat allocation for Majha region currently stands at seven, while Doaba region accounts for four seats.
During the announcement of names Amarinder said, all these candidates had strong political credentials and were known faces in their respective constituencies. There is one woman in the first list. Farzana Alam Khan, a former SAD MLA and wife of late DGP Izhar Alam Khan, will contest from Malerkotla.
Besides Amarinder, there are eight other Jat Sikhs in the list. Four of the candidates belong to the SC community, three to OBC community, while five are Hindu faces.
In addition to Amarinder and Farzana Alam, another key candidate from Malwa is the current Patiala mayor, Sanjeev Sharma, who will contest the Patiala rural seat.
Kamaldeep Saini is the candidate from Kharar, while Jagmohan Sharma will contest from Ludhiana east. The Ludhiana south seat will be represented by Satinderpal Singh Tajpuri.
According to report, Amarinder Singh had single-handedly transformed this region into a game-changer for the Congress in the 2007 polls with his ground-breaking Water Termination Act of 2004 as well as the introduction of BT cotton.
Kamaldeep Saini, former PPCC secretary, former Chairman Cooperative Bank Punjab and General Secretary in-charge (Org) PLC, has been finalised as the candidate from Kharar, while Jagmohan Sharma, who was President of District Congress Committee, Ludhiana and is currently PLC district president, has been selected for Ludhiana East.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
