1 week Ago By Raakhi Jagga
With only 22 days left for the campaign, BJP Wednesday named three more candidates for the Lok Sabha seats in Punjab, feilding former minister Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi from Ferozepur, party senior vice-president Dr Subash Sharma from Anandpur Sahib, and Arvind Khanna from Sangrur. With this, the BJP has fielded candidates in 12 out of the 13 parliamentary constituencies in Punjab. It has yet to name its nominee for the Fatehgarh Sahib reserved constituency.
It is the first time that the BJP is fighting the Lok Sabha elections in Punjab on its own after following the break in its ties with the Shiromani Akali Dal, one of its oldest allies. Advertisement A Mohali resident, 46-year-old Dr Subash Sharma will be contesting his first election. With a doctorate in economics, Sharma started his political journey with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyaarthi Parishad (ABVP) in his mid-20s and was part of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch before joining the BJP.
He has been pitted against the AAP’s Malvinder Singh Kang, Congress’ Vijay Inder Singla and SAD’s Prem Singh Chandumajra. A former Congress MLA, 57-year-old Arvind Khanna won the Sangrur assembly seat in 2002 and 2012 on Congress tickets. He switched over to the BJP in January 2022 and unsuccessfully contested the assembly elections from the Sangrur seat.
Khanna will take on AAP’s Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Congress’ Sukhpal Khaira, SAD (Amritsar) Simranjit Singh Mann and SAD’s Iqbal Singh Jundan. A former Congress leader, 70-year-old.
