Chandigarh Putting to rest all speculations about the constituency from where he will contest the 2012 Assembly elections, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal will be SAD’s candidate from Lambi in Muktsar district. The name of Badal, who will be the SAD’s chief ministerial candidate — figured in the list of 48 candidates whose names were announced by the party on Friday. Significantly, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal’s name did not figure in the list.
Of the 48 candidates declared in the first list, while 24 are sitting MLAs, 12 are new faces, nine former MLAs and one former MP. Five tickets have also been given to the relatives of senior leaders and six to women candidates. Around 17 names announced are around 45 years of age.
With Sukhbir’s name not figuring in the first list, there is speculation that he may not contest the elections and only campaign for the party. Also, the names of two cabinet ministers — Capt Balbir Bath and Sewa Singh Sekhwan — do not figure in the lost. The rest of the cabinet ministers have been given tickets.
Out of the 24 sitting MLAs whose names figure in the list, from the Badal family, the chief minister is fighting from Lambi, thus putting to rest all speculations that he may not contest from this constituency. Moreover, while Bikram Majithia — brother-in-law of Sukhbir — is contesting from Majitha, Adaish Partap Singh Kairon, son-in-law of Badal (Senior), will be the party’s candidate from Patti.
The 12 new faces included former Director General of Police P S Gill who will contest from Moga, former principal secretary to the CM, D S Guru from Bhadur (reserved constituency) and Shiv Ram Kler, former additional deputy commissioner of Ludhiana, from Jagroan. On late Thursday evening, Guru had taken voluntary retirement from the IAS. He had been replaced by 1987 batch IAS officer S K Sandhu.
The other new faces in the list are former MP Sharanjeet Singh Dhillon (Sahnewal), liquor baron Deep Malhotra (Faridkot), Vardev Singh Mann (Guru Harsahai), Varinder Kaur (Shutrana), Balwinder Singh Bains (Ludhiana-South) and Manpreet Singh Ayali (Dakha).
The kin of senior party leaders who have got tickets included Gurpartap Singh Wadala from Nakodar (son of Kuldeep Singh Wadala), Dilraj Singh Bhunder from Sardulgarh (son of MJP Balwinder Singh Bhunder), Kuldeep Kaur Tohra from Patiala-Rural (daughter of late G S Tohra, former president of SGPC), Harpreet Kaur Mukhmailpur from Ghanour (wife of former MLA Ajaib Singh Mukhmailpur) and Tejinder Singh Sandhu from Sanaur (son of former minister Jasdev Singh Sandhu).
Meanwhile, while Agriculture Minister Sucha Singh Langah will contest from Dera Baba Nanak (he contested from Dhariwal) following delimitation, Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Ranjit Singh Bharampura will fight from Khadoor Sahib — now a general constituency, as his earlier constituency of Nasherapnua does not exist anymore.
Moreover, while Tourism Minister Hira Singh Gabria will contest from the newly formed Atam Nagar, Irrigation Minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon will fight from Maur (earlier he contested from Ferozepur), Sarabjeet Singh Makkar from Kapurthala (earlier contested from Adampur), Tota Singh from Dharamkot (earlier contested from Moga) and Gurdev Singh Badal from Jaiton (earlier contested from Panjghraian).
