Assembly elections 2022 updates: Congress may announce Punjab CM candidate on Feb 6

Rahul Gandhi had announced during his last visit to Punjab on January 27 that the Congress will go into the Punjab Assembly election with a CM face and the decision on it will be taken soon after consulting party workers.Congress president Sonia Gandhi has already started consultations with party leaders and workers on the chief ministerial candidate.The party is seeking responses from Congress leaders and workers through its Shakti app, the sources said.The party has also sought the opinion of common people on the issue and the process has started in the last two days.

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said it has analysed self-sworn affidavits of 615 candidates across political parties and Independent nominees from the 58 assembly seats in 11 districts of the state where elections are scheduled on February 10. On criminal background of candidates, it said, "Out of 615 candidates analysed, 156 (25 per cent) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves while 121 (20 per cent) have declared serious criminal cases against themselves."Among the major parties, 21 (75 per cent) out of 28 candidates analysed from the SP, 17 (59 per cent) out of 29 candidates from the RLD, 29 (51 per cent) out of 57 candidates from the BJP, 21 (36 per cent) out of 58 candidates from the Congress, 19 (34 per cent) out of 56 candidates from the BSP and eight (15 per cent) out of 52 candidates from the AAP have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits, it said.

Describing the manifesto as a "pack of lies", Uttarakhand BJP president Madan Kaushik said the Congress has done exactly the opposite of what it has promised in the document while distributing tickets in the state for the elections.Despite promising to give 40 per cent of tickets to women, the party cancelled the candidatures of some women it had fielded, including Dalit candidate Barkha Rani and Sandhya Dalakoti from Lalkuan, Kaushik alleged.

The list of 30 leaders of Congress campaigners includes the names of party's interim president Sonia Gandhi, former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh, former party president Rahul Gandhi, party's general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi. Other party leaders include Sachin Pilot, Harak Singh Rawat, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, Harish Rawat, Chattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel, Hardik Patel, Indian Youth Congress chief Srinivas BV, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala, Uttarakhand Congress chief Ganesh Godiyal, and Ghulam Nabi Azad.

The Congress is banking on former minister Surendra Vikram Singh to redeem its pride in Harchandpur assembly segment, hoping to teach a lesson to its own MLA, Rakesh Singh, for switching sides.Rakesh Singh, who won the seat in 2017 as a Congress nominee, is fighting the assembly election on a BJP ticket this time. Veteran Surendra Vikram Singh joined the Congress only recently and was thrown into the fray to rein in the “traitor”.