CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Congress stuck to the one family one ticket rule by dropping four sitting MLAs and fielding 15 new faces in the first list of 86 candidates announced on Saturday.
Among the prominent names making it to the list are CM Charanjit Singh Channi from Chamkaur Sahib and state Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu from Amritsar (East).
The list has the stamp of Sidhu as Malavika Sood, the sister of actor Sonu Sood, and Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala, were fielded from Moga and Mansa respectively. Both had joined the party recently following Sidhu’s lobbying.
Member of parliament Partap Singh Bajwa was fielded from Qadian while the party has also retained all state cabinet ministers. The first list has nine women candidates, representing around 10.4 per cent so far.
Sources said there was disagreement on eight assembly seats between Sidhu and chief minister Chanranjit Singh Channi as both lobbied for their supporters. But Sidhu appears to have prevailed. Channi was seeking a poll ticket for his younger brother, Manohar Singh, from Bassi Pathana but sitting MLA Gurpreet Singh has been retained from there. Channi was also pushing for Nimisha Mehta from Garhshankar but that too was denied as Punjab Youth Congress leader Amarpreet Lally has been picked for that seat.
The party has given tickets to relatives of senior leaders. Among them are Sandeep Jakhar, the nephew of former state unit president Sunil Jakhar, and Mohit Mohindra, the son of cabinet minister Brahm Mohindra.
Two members of parliament managed seats for their sons. While Kamil Amar Singh, the son of Fatehgarh Saheb MP Amar Singh was fielded from Rajkot, Vikram Choudhury, the son of Jalandhar MP Santokh Choudhary will contest from Phillaur.
A senior party leader said the first list reflected the formula prepared by Sidhu of one family one ticket while keeping the MPs out of it. As a result a dozen leaders who wanted tickets for their relatives, including Channi and a few sitting cabinet ministers, were denied the privilege.
“The four MLAs who were denied tickets are because of Sidhu as he never wanted to give them tickets. Also the young leaders who have been named is also because of the formula adopted by Sidhu,” he said.