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Lok Sabha election: AAP fields Talwandi Sabo MLA Baljinder Kaur from Bathinda
Kaur, a postgraduate in English, had a brief stint as a teacher at Mata Gujri College in Fatehgarh Sahib before joining the AAP ahead of the 2017 assembly elections in the state.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday cleared the names of its candidates from Bathinda and Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha constituencies.
The party named Talwandi Sabo MLA Baljinder Kaur as its candidate from the high-stakes Bathinda Lok Sabha constituency whereas state youth wing president Manjinder Singh Sidhu has been fielded from Khadoor Sahib. Kaur, who heads the party’s Mahila wing in Punjab, is a first-time legislator from Talwandi Sabo assembly constituency that forms part of the Bathinda Lok Sabha seat.
Union minister and Akali leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal is sitting MP from Bathinda. The Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) have not named their nominees, whereas rebel leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira, who quit the AAP to form his Punjab Ekta Party four months ago, has announced that he would contest from the seat.
Kaur, a postgraduate in English, had a brief stint as a teacher at Mata Gujri College in Fatehgarh Sahib before joining the AAP ahead of the 2017 assembly elections in the state. She defeated Khushbaz Singh Jatana of the Congress to win the Talwandi Sabo seat by 19,293 votes. Though the AAP leadership had initially decided not to give ticket to legislators in the May 19 parliamentary polls, it had a rethink to give a strong candidate against Khaira in Bathinda. The party does not want to lag behind the rebel leader.
Sidhu, who has been fielded from Khadoor Sahib, belongs to Lalpura village of Tarn Taran district. He served in the army for five years before taking voluntary retirement. With their candidature, the AAP has announced its nominees for 12 of the 13 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state. AAP state core committee chairman Budh Ram said the party would name its Ludhiana candidate soon.
CPI, CPI (ML) ANNOUNCE CANDIDATES
The Punjab Democratic Alliance (PDA) announced Communist Party of India’s executive member Daswinder Kaur as its candidate from Amritsar Lok Sabha segment. Her candidature was declared after a meeting of leaders of all six constituents — Punjab Ekta Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Lok Insaaf Party, CPI, Revolutionary Marxist Party of India and Nava Punjab Party (NPP) — of the PDA from Majha region. Daswinder had contested the 2017 by-election from Amritsar Lok Sabha seat and was polled 17,886 votes.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) also named its candidates from Bathinda, Sangrur and Gurdaspur seats. Bhagwant Singh Samaon, who belongs to Bhikhi in Mansa, has been fielded from Bathinda, whereas Gurnam Singh Bikhi, who has been CPI (ML) member since 1990, is party candidate from Sangrur. Ashwani Kumar Happy has been fielded from Gurdaspur.
