New Delhi: With less than a month left for the Punjab Assembly elections, the Congress on Saturday released the list for candidates on 86 seats.
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi will contest from the Chamkaur Sahib assembly constituency, while state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu has been fielded from Amritsar East.
The grand also party has also given ticket to Bollywood actor Sonu Sood’s sister Malvika Sood, who will be in the fray from the Moga assembly constituency.
Besides, the Congress has fielded Pratap Singh Bajwa from Qadian, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa from Dera Baba Nanak and Sukhwinder Singh Sarkaria from Raja Sansi and Harminder Singh Gill from Patti assembly constituencies respectively.
The Congress has fielded Punjabi singer Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu alias Sidhu Moosewala from the Mansa assembly constituency.
This comes a day after the Congress finalised the names of its candidates for the Punjab Assembly elections at a meeting of the Central Election Committee held under party chief Sonia Gandhi's leadership.
The electoral politics in Punjab has witnessed many changes since the 2017 assembly elections.
The Congress had won 77 seats in the 117-member Punjab Assembly in 2017 with Captain Amarinder Singh taking over as the chief minister.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had won in 20 assembly constituencies, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) alliance had bagged 18 seats.
The equations have, however, changed this time as Captain Amarinder Singh has stepped down from his post and left the Congress after conflict with Sidhu, who was made the state party president.
The long-running BJP-SAD alliance also parted ways over the three farm laws that the Centre had passed in 2020. The SAD has recently joined hands with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
Voting for the Punjab Assembly will be held in a single phase on February 14. The results will be declared on March 10.