Ahead of the
2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday released its first list of eight candidates for Punjab, fielding five Cabinet ministers from the state. As per the list, the party has fielded Cabinet ministers Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal from Amritsar, Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer from Sangrur, Laljit Singh Bhullar from Khadoor Sahib, Gurmeet Singh Khudian from Bathinda and Balbir Singh from Patiala.
Sushil Kumar Rinku, who won from the Jalandhar seat in the 2023 by-election, has been fielded from the seat again.
Former Congress MLA from Bassi Pathana, Gurpreet Singh GP, who joined the AAP on March 9 in the presence of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, has been named as the party's candidate from the Fatehgarh Sahib seat. Besides them, the ruling party in Punjab has fielded Punjabi actor Karamjeet Anmol from the Faridkot seat.
AAP national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal last month announced that his party would contest all 14 seats in Punjab and Chandigarh.
While addressing an event on doorstep delivery of ration in the state, he said, “For the Lok Sabha elections, Punjab has 13 seats and one from Chandigarh... AAP will declare its candidates on all of these 14 seats. You have to make AAP sweep all these seats with a full majority”.
During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the
Congress party won the maximum -- eight seats -- in Punjab, while Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the
BJP secured two seats each and the AAP was restricted to one -- Bhagwant Mann from Sangrur.
In the 2022 Assembly elections, AAP registered a landslide victory, securing 92 of 117 seats in the Punjab Legislative Assembly. The Congress party managed 18 seats, while three seats went to the Shiromani Akali Dal.
The Election Commission is expected to announce the schedule for the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections soon.
(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)
