Congress releases first list of candidates for Punjab polls; Malvika Sood gets Moga seat

Punjab Congress has released its first list of candidates who shall be contesting in the February 14 Assembly Polls. The list includes a total of 86 candidates, including CM Charanjit Singh Channi who will contest the polls from Chamkaur Sahib constituency and Bollywood actor Sonu Sood's sister Malvika Sood contesting from Moga seat.

Chandigarh: With less than a month left for the assembly polls to commence, the Punjab Congress released its first list comprising 86 candidates for the elections today. CM Charanjit Singh Channi will be contesting the Punjab elections from Chamkaur Sahib Constituency.

The party's official Twitter account for the election-related announcements 'INCSandesh' has also shared the list including the 86 names and their respective assembly constituencies. The list further revealed that the state chief Navjot Singh Sidhu will contest from Amritsar East, whereas Pratap Singh Bajwa will contest from Kadian. Besides these, singer Sidhu Moosewala will be contesting from Mansa Constituency.

• The CEC has selected the following candidates for the ensuing general elections to the Legislative Assembly of Punjab pic.twitter.com/0IH7bg1hL6

  — INC Sandesh (@INCSandesh) January 15, 2022 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="

  The CEC has selected the following candidates for the ensuing general elections to the Legislative Assembly of Punjab pic.twitter.com/0IH7bg1hL6

  — INC Sandesh (@INCSandesh) January 15, 2022

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  The CEC has selected the following candidates for the ensuing general elections to the Legislative Assembly of Punjab pic.twitter.com/0IH7bg1hL6

  — INC Sandesh (@INCSandesh) January 15, 2022

Additionally, the party has revealed the names of leaders who have been given tickets, including Naresh Puri who will contest from Sajanpur assembly constituency, Amit Vij from Pathankot constituency, Varinderjit Singh from Gurdaspur constituency, Sunil Dutti from Amritsar North constituency, Rajkumar Verka from Amritsar West constituency and Omprakash Soni from Amritsar Central constituency, among others. Bollywood actor Sonu Sood's sister Malvika Sood, who joined Congress a few days ago, will contest the election from Moga.

Interestingly, Congress has expressed confidence in Balbir Singh Sidhu, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, and Sundar Sham Arora, who were considered to be close aides of former Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh and were dropped from their ministerial post when Channi's Government was formed. Members of the Punjab Youth Congress are also named in the first list of candidates including Brinder Singh Dhillon, Amarpreet Singh Lally and Mohit Mohindra. Sukhpal Singh Khaira, who was arrested by Enforcement Directorate in connection with the money laundering case linked to drug smuggling, has also been given a ticket from Bholath.

The assembly elections in Punjab will commence on February 14 and will be held in one phase, while the results will be declared on March 10. There are a total of 117 seats to be contested in Punjab while all the parties in the forefront have been gearing up for the polls for the last few months.

In the 2017 Assembly polls in Punjab, Congress had won with an absolute majority by securing 77 seats and ousted the SAD-BJP government after 10 years. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had emerged as the second-largest party winning 20 seats in 117-member Punjab Legislative Assembly. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) could only manage to win 15 seats while the BJP secured three seats.