The City Headlines
Ludhiana, January 15
Punjab Congress on Saturday announced the first list of candidates for the 2022 Assembly elections. Candidates for 86 seats out of the total 117 have been announced.
Ludhiana has 14 MLA constituencies. Of those, candidates for 9 constituencies have been announced. 7 out of the 9 announced candidates are sitting MLAs. Also, two of them are cabinet ministers. Also, two of them are those who have earlier lost elections.
Except for Ludhiana South, candidates for all the urban seats have been announced from Congress.
Ludhiana West- Bharat Bhushan Ashu
From Ludhiana West constituency, Bharat Bhushan Ashu has got the ticket. Currently, he is the Food and Civil Supplies minister in the Congress government. For the third time in a row, Bharat Bhushan Ashu has got the ticket from Ludhiana West.
Atam Nagar- Kamaljit Singh Karwal
Atam Nagar constituency in Ludhiana is known as the hub of the Bains brothers. Once again, Congress has chosen Kamaljit Singh Karwal for the Atam Nagar constituency. In the 2017 Assembly elections, Kamaljit Singh Karwal lost elections in Atam Nagar to Simarjit Singh Bains.
Ludhiana North- Rakesh Pandey
For the seventh time in a row, Congress has given Ludhiana North ticket to Rakesh Pandey. He has won the Ludhiana North Assembly seat six times consecutively. During his term in 2002-07, he was also given a cabinet rank.
Ludhiana Central- Surinder Dawar
Surinder Dawar has got the ticket from Ludhiana Central constituency once again. He is the sitting MLA. Also, he has been a member of the Legislative Assembly thrice- in 2002, 2012, and 2017. He has also been Chief Parliamentary Secretary from 2005 to 2007. His former colleague Ashok Prashar Pappi will contest the elections against him from AAP’s ticket.
Ludhiana East- Sanjay Talwar
Sanjay Talwar has received the MLA ticket from the Ludhiana East constituency. Last time in 2017 also, Sanjay Talwar received the ticket 12 days prior to the elections. Congress has once again given him chance in the same constituency. From 2002 to 2017, Sanjay Talwar remained Councillor in Municpial Corporation. In 2017, Sanjay Talwar won the Assembly elections with a comfortable margin.
Khanna- Gurkirat Singh Kotli
Cabinet Minister Gurkirat Singh Kotli has got the ticket from the Khanna constituency of Ludhiana. He has won the Assembly elections twice from Khanna constituency (in 2012 and 2017). Gurkirat Singh Kotli is Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu’s brother and grandson of Beant Singh, who remained the Chief Minister of Punjab from 1992 to August 1995.
Dakha- Captain Sandeep Singh Sandhu
From Dakha MLA constituency, Congress has given the MLA ticket to Captain Sandeep Singh Sidhu. For the second time, Captain Sandeep Singh Sandhu has received the ticket from Dakha constituency. During Captain Amarinder Singh’s government, Sandhu had lost the bypolls against Manpreet Singh Ayali.
Payal- Lakhvir Singh Lakha
For the first time in 2017, Lakhvir Singh Lakha won the Assembly elections. Congress has given him the ticket for the second time. He remained the President of District Congress Committee Khanna.
Raikot- Kamil Amar Singh
Kamil Amar Singh has received the Assembly ticket from the Raikot constituency. His father Amar Singh is MP from Shri Fatehgarh Sahib.
It is to be noted that Jagtar Singh Hissowal had won the Raikot constituency in the 2017 elections. Recently, he had joined Congress, but he did not get the ticket.
