BJP picks Sanjay Tandon for Chandigarh Lok Sabha after Kirron Kher opts out

Kirron Kher congratulated Sanjay Tandon on Facebook minutes after the announcement was made and extended her best wishes for his election campaign.

CHANDIGARH: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday named senior party leader Sanjay Tandon (60) as the party’s candidate for the Lok Sabha elections from Chandigarh after two-time MP Kirron Kher opted out due to her health condition.

In a post on Facebook, Kirron Kher congratulated Sanjay Tandon for being selected as the BJP candidate from Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat. (Facebook//kirronkher14)

Tandon, a former president of the BJP’s Chandigarh unit.

Kher congratulated Tandon on Facebook minutes after the announcement was made and extended her best wishes for his campaign. Chandigarh is scheduled to vote on June 1.

Tandon was the Chandigarh BJP chief for nearly a decade from 2010. His father Balram Dass Tandon was a veteran BJP leader and was the Chhattisgarh governor from 2014 till his death in August 2018.

Sanjay Tandon was also appointed as BJP’s election co-in-charge for Himachal Pradesh.

A party leader said the BJP’s central election committee picked Tandon’s name from a shortlist that also included former MP Satya Pal Jain and former BJP Chandigarh chief Arun Sood.

Kirron Kher won the Chandigarh seat in 2014 and 2019, defeating former Union minister Pawan Kumar Bansal who thrice won the seat in 1999, 2004 and 2009.

The Congress has not named its candidate for the seat yet. Bansal, Chandigarh Congress president Harmohinder Singh Lucky, and Anandpur Sahib MP Manish Tewari are the front-runners for the Congress ticket from Chandigarh.