Chandigarh: Five cabinet ministers, a popular comedian, and a Congress turncoat figure in the Aam Aadmi Party’s list of eight Lok Sabha candidates from Punjab.
For the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP, which came to power in Punjab in March 2022, the parliamentary election is virtually a mid-term appraisal of the Bhagwant Mann government. In fielding five of his cabinet colleagues, Mann is in a way seeking a mandate for his government’s performance.
Punjab ministers Kuldeep Dhaliwal, Dr Balbir Singh, Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Gurmeet Singh Khudian and Laljit Singh Bhullar will be facing the electoral test this year.
The party has fielded popular comedian 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 party barely a week ago, are the remaining two candidates.
There are 13 Lok Sabha seats, including four reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates, in Punjab. In 2019, the Congress cornered eight seats, while the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) won two seats each. The AAP managed one only.
#LokSabha2024 ਚੋਣਾਂ ਲਈ ਆਮ ਆਦਮੀ ਪਾਰਟੀ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦੇ ਪਹਿਲੇ ਅੱਠ ਉਮੀਦਵਾਰ!!
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— AAP Punjab (@AAPPunjab) March 14, 2024
In Patiala, the AAP has fielded Punjab health minister Dr Balbir Singh. He was taken into the cabinet last year and has been at the forefront of executing the promise of the party to provide affordable health services through the aam aadmi clinics.
An eye surgeon by profession, Dr Singh started his political career decades ago participating in the J.P. Movement. He was associated with the India Against Corruption movement in New Delhi after which he joined the AAP in 2014.
He contested elections from Patiala rural assembly seat in 2017 but lost to Congress senior leader Brahm Mohindra. In 2022, he won the seat defeating Mohindra’s son Mohit.
The Patiala parliamentary seat is currently held by former chief minister Amarinder Singh’s wife Preneet Kaur. She left the Congress and joined the BJP in New Delhi on Thursday, and is expected to be the BJP candidate on this seat.
Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, rural development and panchayats minister who also has the NRI portfolio, will contest from Amritsar. He is the MLA from Ajnala, one of the nine assembly segments falling in the Amritsar parliamentary seat.
Dhaliwal had contested the parliamentary elections in 2019, but 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 running an incessant campaign to save village common lands from private encroachments. Of the nine assembly segments in the Amritsar parliamentary constituency, seven have AAP MLAs, making it a strong seat for the ruling party.
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 cabinet minister Adaish Partap Singh Kairon in 2022.
Patti is one of the nine assembly segments of the Khadoor Sahib parliamentary constituency currently held by Congress MP Jasbir Singh Gill. Of the nine Assembly constituencies, seven are held by the AAP, making Khadoor a tough one for other parties.
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 history 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 first time since 1969 that the senior Badal had tasted an electoral defeat.
Though Khuddian proved to be a “giant slayer”, he was not taken into the Bhagwant Mann cabinet immediately. In fact, he was made a minister only last year.
Bathinda is currently held by Harsimrat Kaur Badal of the SAD. The former Union minister had defeated Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and AAP’s Baljinder Kaur in 2019. All the nine assembly segments of Bathinda are currently held by the AAP.
Sports and youth affairs minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer is the AAP candidate from Mann’s erstwhile constituency Sangrur. He had won the 2017 assembly elections from Barnala and repeated the feat in 2022.
Sangrur is currently held by Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) head Simranjit Singh Maan, who won the Lok Sabha bypoll in 2022 after Mann vacated the seat on becoming the chief minister. All the nine assembly segments of the seat are currently held by AAP MLAs.
Jalandhar MP Sushil Kumar Rinku, the AAP’s sole representative in the Lok Sabha, will try his luck again from the constituency. The former Congressman won the Lok Sabha bypoll, which was necessitated after the death of Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary in 2023.
In 2017, Rinku had won the Jalandhar West assembly seat on a Congress ticket, but lost to AAP’s Sheetal Angural five years on. He then joined the AAP ahead of the Jalandhar bypoll. Of the nine assembly segments in the Jalandhar parliamentary seat, five are held by the Congress and four by the AAP.
Gurpreet Singh G.P. has been fielded from Fatehgarh Sahib. The Congress ex-MLA joined the AAP last week. G.P. was elected from Bassi Pathana assembly segment in 2017, but lost to AAP’s Rupinder Singh Happy in 2022.
The reserved seat of Fatehgarh Sahib is currently held by Amar Singh of the Congress. All the nine assembly segments of this seat are with the AAP.
A household name in Punjab, Karamjit Anmol will be making his electoral debut from Faridkot. His most popular performances has been for the hit comedy ‘Carry On Jatta’.
Faridkot is currently held by singer-turned-politician Mohammad Sadiq of the Congress. Of the nine assembly segments in Faridkot, eight are held by the AAP and one is with the Congress.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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