Punjab: A mix of all parties is listed by the BJP
The Punjab BJP has announced nine candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, plus three further nominations. The list is a concoction of all the parties, seven of which were formerly members of other parties.
Today, the party declared the name of Parampal Kaur Sidhu, a former IAS official and “Maluka bahu” from Bathinda, while Anita Som Parkash, the wife of former MP Som Parkash, received the ticket from Hoshiarpur. Manjit Singh Manna Mianwind, a former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA, was nominated by the BJP to contest the panthic seat of Khadoor Sahib.
Parampal is a member of the Akali family as well. In the SAD-BJP administration headed by Parkash Singh Badal, her father-in-law Sikander Singh Maluka has served as a SAD representative and has continued to hold a cabinet position.
Hoshiarpur was won by the BJP in the elections of 2014 and 2019. In 2014, the party’s Vijay Sampla won it, and in 2019, Som Parkash overcame Raj Kumar Chabbewal, the Congress candidate.
This is Mianwind’s first Lok Sabha election, according to Khadoor Sahib. In 2002 and 2007, he had been elected to the Assembly on the SAD ticket. He ran for the Assembly in 2022 with Baba Bakala’s BJP ticket, however, he finished well behind.
Congress MP Jasbir Singh is the current Khadoor Sahib representative. Laljit Bhullar has been fielded by the AAP for this seat. SAD has not yet disclosed a candidate for this position.
Three of the nine candidates, Manjit Singh Mianwind, Parampal Kaur Sidhu, and Han Raj Hans, had previously been associated with the SAD; Hans had also been associated with the Congress. Prior to switching allegiance, Sushil Rinku successfully ran for the Jalandhar seat on the AAP ticket, although Parineet Kaur, Ravinder Bittu, and Rinku were members of the Congress.
Taranjeet Sandhu, a former diplomat, has been nominated from Amritsar, while Anita, the wife of veteran BJP politician Som Parkash, will run from Hoshiarpur. Dinesh Kumar Babbu, a different BJP politician, is running from Gurdaspur.
