Chandigarh: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has announced its first list of 40 candidates for the upcoming Punjab assembly elections, naming chief minister Bhagwant Mann from Dhuri and assembly speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan from Kotkapura.
Mann’s candidature from Dhuri puts an end to speculation that he might contest from a different constituency. He won the Dhuri seat in the 2022 assembly elections, defeating Congress candidate Dalvir Singh Goldy by a margin of 58,206 votes.
The party has renominated all 40 sitting MLAs included in the first list. Cabinet minister Sanjeev Arora has been fielded again from Ludhiana West. Four sitting women MLAs have also been renominated: Dr Amandeep Kaur Arora from Moga, Inderjit Kaur Mann from Nakodar, Santosh Kataria from Balachaur and Baljinder Kaur from Talwandi Sabo.
Of the 40 constituencies covered in the list, 27 are in the Malwa region, eight in Doaba and five in Majha.
The announcement gives AAP an early start in candidate selection ahead of the elections. The list was approved at a meeting of the party’s political affairs committee chaired by national convener Arvind Kejriwal. Mann, Punjab in-charge Manish Sisodia and finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema attended the meeting.
The party had reviewed candidates for all 117 assembly constituencies a day earlier. However, apart from Arora, the names of other cabinet ministers have not been included in the first list.
Arora is currently in jail, according to the source report.
AAP is expected to announce around 19 newly appointed constituency in-charges in its second list. The party currently has 94 MLAs in Punjab’s 117-member assembly.
