Farmers Movement Archive

Punjab assembly elections: SAD first off blocks, names 64 candidates

CHANDIGARH/JALANDHAR: Taking the lead, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Monday released a list of candidates for 64 assembly segments in Punjab for the state assembly elections scheduled early next year. No other political party has announced a candidate list till date. SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal had already announced 22 candidates so far and the remaining 42 candidates were added on Monday. Sukhbir, who is Lok Sabha MP from Ferozpur, would be contesting from his old assembly constituency, Jalalabad. Party patron and former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal’s name is not in the list, but the party has not announced any candidate from the Lambi assembly constituency from where Badal senior is sitting MLA. The Punjab assembly has 117 seats. As SAD declared its candidates, it threw cold water on expectations of dissenters of Bahujan Samaj Party who have been demanding that a few seats where their party is strong should be allocated to the BSP. While SAD has already swapped two seats with BSP after the original seat-sharing formula was announced and BSP state president Jasbir Singh Garhi had said that there would not be any further swapping, Akal Dal announced candidates on all the other seats where BSP has considerable presence. It included Banga, Adampur and Phillaur where SAD already has three MLAs. The party has announced candidates in two other seats – Garhshankar and Chabbewal - which were being mentioned by BSP dissenters. From these seats, party has fielded former MLAs Surinder Singh Bhullewal Rathan and Sohan Singh Thandal, respectively. After severing ties with old ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the contentious farm laws, SAD had in June this year announced the alliance with BSP. Before this, SAD and BSP contested the 1996 Lok Sabha elections in an alliance in Punjab. The pact give SAD 97 assembly segments and BSP the remaining 20. SAD has to announce just 33 candidates now.

The Times of India

2021-09-14

Chandigarh