A BJP Punjab panel has selected 40 candidates for 13 seats

Capt. Amarinder Singh, a seasoned BJP politician and former chief minister of Punjab, expressed optimism on Thursday that the BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal will form a pre-poll alliance for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections shortly and that the two parties would defeat competitors in the state together.

He made this statement when the BJP Punjab election committee was meeting in the nation’s capital today and narrowing down the field of candidates to around 40 for each of the state’s 13 Lok Sabha seats.

The BJP high leadership will now review the panel containing the names when the central core committee meets.

Chaired by Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar, the committee meeting at BJP headquarters lasted about two and a half hours. BJP Punjab affairs chief Vijay Rupani was also there, along with panelists Tarun Chugh, national general secretary, Iqbal Singh Lalpura, member of the BJP parliamentary board, and Manoranjan Kalia, a former minister from Punjab.

According to sources, Preneet Kaur, the current Member of Parliament for Patiala, was the only contender from Patiala.

Amarinder Singh had already told The Tribune that if SAD and BJP united, they would win Punjab’s legislative elections.

The former chief minister said that seat negotiations were under progress but withheld details of the discussions.

According to information obtained by The Tribune, the BJP is running for two parliamentary seats in Patiala and Ludhiana, also known as Anandpur Sahib, in addition to Amritsar, Gurdaspur, and Hoshiarpur, where they have historically contested in coalition with the SAD.

According to reports, the BJP would be better served by Patiala and Ludhiana since they are mostly urban areas. Anandpur Sahib is said to have significant Hindu voter sway, which may work in the BJP’s advantage.

It has been reported that SAD is willing to provide four seats to the BJP, who would also run in Chandigarh. While both parties consider their alternatives, SAD is reportedly looking for a settlement unrelated to farmers’ concerns on the “Bandi Singhs” problem.