Punjab assembly elections: Race for Mohali ticket picks up steam

From Congress, the name of sitting MLA Balbir Singh Sidhu has almost been finalised but the official announcement is yet to be made. Since 2007, Sidhu has won the Mohali seat three times in a row, and in 2017, he was awarded a cabinet berth after the Congress formed the government in the state.

Though the Punjab assembly elections are a few months away, the fight for tickets has already picked up steam in Mohali.

There are around 2.31 lakh voters in the Mohali assembly seat. (HT File)

From Congress, the name of sitting MLA Balbir Singh Sidhu has almost been finalised but the official announcement is yet to be made. Since 2007, Sidhu has won the Mohali seat three times in a row, and in 2017, he was awarded a cabinet berth after the Congress formed the government in the state. There are around 2.31 lakh voters in the Mohali assembly seat.

This time, both Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will be contesting independently as in September last year, SAD parted ways with the saffron party over the three agriculture laws, which have been scrapped now.

From SAD, the names which are doing the rounds include, SAD vice-president Parvinder Singh Sohana, former PCS officer Balbir Singh Dhol and Youth Akali Dal senior vice-president Gurmeet Singh Bakarpur. From BJP, state executive member Sanjeev Vashisht is on the list of probable candidates.

So far, the SAD has declared 87 candidates for the polls, which it is contesting in alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

From Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the names of state joint secretary and spokesperson of AAP, Malvinder Singh Kang, former mayor Kulwant Singh, social worker, Dr Sunny Ahluwalia are doing the rounds.

Senior Congress leader and deputy mayor Kuljeet Singh Bedi says, “The name of Balbir Singh Sidhu is almost finalised, but officially, it has to be announced. Sidhu will win with a thumping majority this time too.”

SAD district president Charanjeet Singh Kalewal said, “We are carrying out a survey and hopefully, the local leader will get the ticket and an announcement will be made this month only.”

AAP’s Mohali in-charge Govinder Mittal said, “Preference will be given to local candidates and tickets will be announced soon.”