The Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) led by former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Sunday announced the candidates from 22 constituencies for the February 20 Assembly polls.
The PLC is fighting the elections for 37 of the 117 seats as part of its alliance with the BJP and the SAD (Sanyukt).
Of the 37 seats in the PLC kitty, 26 are from the Malwa region. The PLC’s share in the seat allocation for the Majha region stands at 7, while the Doaba region accounts for four seats.
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Releasing the first list, Capt. Amarinder said all the candidates have strong political credentials and are well known faces in their respective constituencies.
Capt. Amarinder would be fighting from his home constituency Patiala Urban. There are eight other Jat Sikhs in the first list. Four of the candidates belong to the Scheduled Castes (SC) community, three to Other Backward Castes (OBC), while five are Hindus. There is one woman in the first list. Farzana Alam Khan, a former Shiromani Akali Dal MLA, will contest from Malerkotla in the Malwa region.
Another key candidate from the Malwa region is Mayor of MC Patiala Sanjeev Sharma who will contest Patiala Rural. Kamaldeep Saini, a former Punjab Congress secretary, has been fielded from Kharar, and Jagmohan Sharma, former president of District Congress Committee, Ludhiana, from Ludhiana East.
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The Ludhiana South seat will be represented by Satinderpal Singh Tajpuri, son of former Cooperation Minister in the previous SAD government. Prem Mittal, an ex-SAD MLA from Mansa, will contest from Atamnagar, while Damanjeet Singh Mohi, an active Youth Congress functionary, will fight from the Dakha seat.
In the Majha region, Tejinder Singh Randhawa, former vice-president of the DCC, Gurdaspur, is the candidate for Fatehgarh Churrian. The list from the Doaba region includes Amandeep Singh, former Punjab Congress spokesperson, for Bholath, and former Indian hockey team captain, Ajitpal Singh, for the Nakodar constituency.