Chandigarh/Amritsar: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) picked Baisakhi and ‘Khalsa Sirjana Diwas’ to release its first list of seven out of 13 Lok Sabha candidates from Punjab, which includes two Hindu names. SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, who won the Ferozepur seat in 2019, had declared already that he won’t contest this time, but even his wife, Bathinda MP and former central minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, is not on the opening list.
SAD has fielded former state minister Dr Daljit Singh Cheema from Gurdaspur, former MP Prem Singh Chandumajra from Panthic seat Anandpur Sahib, former parliamentary secretary Bikramjit Singh Khalsa from Fatehgarh Sahib, Rajwinder Singh (grandson of former minister Gurdev Singh Badal) from Faridkot (reserve), and ex-legislator Iqbal Singh Jhundan from Sangrur.
The Sikh-dominated party has fielded two Hindus - former minister Anil Joshi from Amritsar and former chief parliamentary secretary NK Sharma from Patiala. The Panthic party trusts a BJP defector to win Majha region’s most important seat for which even a Hindu-centric BJP has placed its bet on a Jat Sikh with Panthic background by fielding former Indian ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu.
In Gurdaspur, Dr Cheema will go up against BJP’s Dinesh Babbu, while Congress is yet to declare nominees for Amritsar and Gurdaspur. AAP was first to announce its Amritsar candidate - minister Kuldip Singh Dhaliwal - but hasn’t named one for Gurdaspur.
