Chandigarh: 5 cupboard ministers, a preferred comic, and a Congress turncoat determine within the Aam Aadmi Get together’s record 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 approach searching 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 will likely be going through the electoral take a look at this 12 months.
The celebration has fielded widespread 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 celebration barely every 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 12 months and has been on the forefront of executing the promise of the celebration to offer reasonably priced well being companies by means of the aam aadmi clinics.
An eye fixed surgeon by occupation, Dr Singh began his political profession a long time in the past collaborating within the J.P. Motion. He was related to the India Towards 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 at the moment 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 anticipated to be the BJP candidate on this seat.
Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, rural improvement and panchayats minister who additionally has the NRI portfolio, will contest from Amritsar. He’s 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 operating an incessant marketing campaign to avoid wasting village widespread lands from personal encroachments. Of the 9 meeting segments within the Amritsar parliamentary constituency, seven have AAP MLAs, making it a powerful seat for the ruling celebration.
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 likely one of the 9 meeting segments of the Khadoor Sahib parliamentary constituency at the moment held by Congress MP Jasbir Singh Gill. Of the 9 Meeting 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.
Although Khuddian proved to be a “giant slayer”, he was not taken into the Bhagwant Mann cupboard instantly. In actual fact, he was made a minister solely final 12 months.
Bathinda is at the moment held by Harsimrat Kaur Badal of the SAD. The previous Union minister had defeated Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and AAP’s Baljinder Kaur in 2019. All of the 9 meeting segments of Bathinda are at the moment held by the AAP.
Sports activities 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 at the moment held by Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) head Simranjit Singh Maan, who received the Lok Sabha bypoll in 2022 after Mann vacated the seat on turning into the chief minister. All of the 9 meeting segments of the seat are at the moment held by AAP MLAs.
Jalandhar MP Sushil Kumar Rinku, the AAP’s sole consultant within the Lok Sabha, will attempt his luck once more from the constituency. The previous 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 section in 2017, however misplaced to AAP’s Rupinder Singh Blissful in 2022.
The reserved seat of Fatehgarh Sahib is at the moment held by Amar Singh of the Congress. All of the 9 meeting segments of this seat are with the AAP.
A family title in Punjab, Karamjit Anmol will likely be making his electoral debut from Faridkot. His hottest performances has been for the hit comedy ‘Carry On Jatta’.
Faridkot is at the moment 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)
Additionally Learn: Why Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann has come underneath Opposition fireplace over farmers’ protest