BJP releases first list of 32 candidates

LUDHIANA: After keeping ticket aspirants anxious almost throughout the day on Wednesday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) issued its first list of 32 candidates. Out of these, 15 are female candidates, and six are SC candidates. The leaders claimed that the rest of the list would be issued shortly. However, sources revealed that leaders have held back names of candidates in wards where there is tough competition among ticket aspirants.

The party has held back names of 15 candidates in which ex-councillors Parminder Mehta, Sumit Malhotra, and Radhey Shyam are included. In these wards, there are three to five ticket aspirants in one ward, so the party needs time to take a decision. Moreover, the party would require time to settle down those who do not get a ticket. Senior leaders said the rest of the candidates would be announced shortly, and if announcements of those candidates has been held back for the moment, then there must be a certain reason. However, one of the ticket aspirants said they had been assured of tickets by party leaders, and they had faith in the party. So, they would wait until further announcement.

A day-long discussion took place in Chandigarh regarding issuance of the list, which kept ticket aspirants on their toes. The party’s state election committee conducted the meeting under the chairmanship of Punjab president Vijay Sampla. Releasing the first list of 32 candidates on behalf of Sampla, state secretary Vineet Joshi said there were 15 female and six SC candidates in the first list, while the second list would be released shortly.

The BJP has given a chance to fresh faces in most of the seats, because 50% female candidates have been given a ticket. Therefore, either the wives or mothers of ex-councillors have been given a chance.

GIVE AND TAKE

Sources in SAD revealed that the party gave three of its candidates to BJP to be fielded in three wards, where the latter did not have a strong candidate. Akali Dal gave the names of Yashpal Chaudhary for Ward No.8, Bhupinder Singh for Ward No.66, and Rakesh Bhanot for Ward No.75. Out of these, the first two candidates have already been announced.
THE FIRST LIST

Ward No.8: Yashpal Chaudhary

Ward No.10: Gurbaksh Singh Billa

Ward No.11: Meenu Jain

Ward No.15: Pooja Rai

Ward No.16: Sakshi Zulka

Ward No.20: Munish Bedi

Ward No.24: Amit Sharma

Ward No.43: Swaranjit Kaur

Ward No.51: Ramandip Kaur Kaka

Ward No.52: Gurpreet Shinder Raju

Ward No.56: Devinder Jaggi

Ward No.57: Manju Aggarwal

Ward No.58: Rajiv Kalra

Ward No.59: Prabhjot Kaur

Ward No.61: Shikha Jain

Ward No.62: Om Prakash Ratra

Ward No.64: Sanjay Kapoor

Ward No.65: Renu Bansal

Ward No.66: Bhupinder Singh

Ward No.69: Ranjana Panchi

Ward No.76: Kushgar Kashyap

Ward No.82: Sanjay Gosain

Ward No.83: Pammi Verma

Ward No.84: Surinder Atwal

Ward No.85: Sunita Rani

Ward No.87: Rani

Ward No.89: Prem Sharma

Ward No.90: Avtar Kishan Tari

Ward No.91: Rupamdeep Kaur

Ward No.92: Jatinder Kumar Katna

Ward No.94:

Daman

Kapur

Ward No.95: Ashok Kumar