Punjab: Aam Aadmi Party's chief ministerial candidate for upcoming Punjab Assembly Elections, Bhagwant Mann on Saturday challenged Congress leader and Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi to contest against him from Dhuri seat.
"I can't fight from Chamkaur Sahib (constituency of Charanjit Channi) as it is a reserved seat, but he can fight from Dhuri. I welcome him," Mann said.
Forty-eight-year-old, a comedian-turned-politician, will contest the Punjab election from the Dhuri Assembly constituency.
The Dhuri assembly seat is currently represented by Congress MLA Dalvir Singh Goldy. The constituency is in the Sangrur locale where Bhagwant Mann is an MP. The battle will be intense as it has been with the Congress beginning around 2012 when Arvind Khanna won the seat.
Polling for 117 seats of the Punjab assembly will be held on February 20 and counting of votes will occur on March 10.
On Friday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced its first list of candidates. The list has names of 34 candidates of BJP and its alliance partners who will contest the February 20 Punjab polls.
"Today BJP is announcing the first list of 34 candidates for the Punjab Elections 2022," Punjab BJP in-charge Dushyant Gautam told reporters yesterday.
While making the declaration, Tarun Chugh, BJP National General Secretary said that the party has given tickets to 12 applicants who belong to farmers' families, 8 tickets to individuals from the Scheduled Caste (SC) community, and 13 tickets to Sikhs.
He additionally said that BJP's first list of candidates incorporates doctors, lawyers, sportspersons, farmers, youth, women, and former IAS officers.