Punjab Assembly Election: BJP releases first list of 34 candidates; 8 belong to SC community

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday announced its first list of candidates for the upcoming Punjab assembly polls. The opposition party in the state said that its first list of 12 candidates includes farmers' families and Scheduled Caste community.

New Delhi:Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday announced its first list of candidates for the Punjab assembly polls. The opposition party in the state said that its first list of 34 candidates includes members of farmers' families and Scheduled Caste community.

"Tickets have been given to 12 candidates who belong to farmers' families, 8 tickets to members of the SC community, 13 tickets to Sikhs. The list has doctors, lawyers, sportspersons, farmers, youth, women & former IAS," BJP national General Secretary Tarun Chugh said, highlighting an early glimpse into the party's list of candidates.

The party, ahead of the release, thanked the Election Commission for its extension of the assembly polls dates from February 14 to February 20.

"The people of Punjab are suffering from misgovernance. For some time, the problem of drug addiction, corruption and many other problems have been coming in Punjab, unfortunately even today those problems remain the same," Chugh said, adding that no progress was made in Punjab under the previous government.

He further said that Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi was mired in the sand mining corruption.

"The present Chief Minister of Congress in Punjab is immersed in corruption. Illegal mining of sand is happening in his own assembly. This is proving that he has close links with the sand mafia of the state," the BJP leader further noted.