Congress announces 3 more candidates for Punjab

The Congress on Saturday announced three more candidates for the Lok Sabha elections in Punjab.

With this, the party has now named candidates for nine out of the 13 seats in the state which will go to the polls in the last phase on May 19.

The Congress on Saturday announced the candidatures of Jasbir Singh Gill Dimpa from Khadoor Sahib, former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Amar Singh from Fatehgarh Sahib (reserve) and former legislator and folk singer Mohammed Sadique from Faridkot.

Earlier, the Congress had fielded four of its sitting MPs in the state -- Sunil Jakhar from Gurdaspur, Gurjeet Singh Aujla from Amritsar, Ravneet Singh Bittu from Ludhiana and Santokh Singh Chaudhary from Jalandhar.

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's wife Preneet Kaur will be in the fray from Patiala, while legislator Rajkumar Chabbewal will contest from Hoshiarpur.

Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President Sunil Jakhar, who got elected from Gurdaspur in the 2017 by-poll necessitated by the death of sitting BJP MP Vinod Khanna, is likely to be pitted against the actor's widow Kavita Khanna.

The BJP's alliance partner Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which ruled the state for 10 years from 2007, has fielded former Punjab Finance Minister Parminder Dhindsa from Sangrur where he will take on sitting Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Bhagwant Mann. Another AAP sitting MP Sadhu Singh will again contest from Faridkot. 

The SAD has so far cleared the names of six candidates for the Lok Sabha polls. Apart from Dhindsa, the other candidates include Prem Singh Chandumajra (Anandpur Sahib), Surjit Singh Rakhra (Patiala) and bureaucrat-turned-politician Darbara Singh Guru (Fatehgarh Sahib).

Former Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) chief Bibi Jagir Kaur will contest from Khadoor Sahib while Charanjit Singh Atwal has been fielded from Jalandhar.

SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal is likely to contest the Ferozepur parliamentary seat, while his wife and Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal may be in the fray from Bathinda, the constituency she has represented twice.

Out of the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab, five are presently held by the SAD-BJP combine, four by the Congress and four by the AAP. - IANS