BJP replaces Union minister Som Prakash with his wife in Hoshiarpur, fields former IAS officer in Bathinda

Anita Som Parkash, Hoshiarpur

Anita Som Parkash, the wife of sitting Hoshiarpur MP and Union Minister of State Som Prakash, 75, has been given a ticket as her husband’s health has deteriorated. She is a social activist in Hoshiarpur who helped the needy during the pandemic and is a well-known name among voters.

Som Parkash, an IAS officer from the 1988 batch, first unsuccessfully contested the 2009 Lok Sabha polls from Hoshiarpur. Later, he became MLA of Phagwara in 2017, but he resigned in 2019 after being elected as Hoshiarpur MP. As a minister of state with the industry and commerce portfolios, he was involved in all talks between farmers during the farmers’ agitation.

Parampal Kaur Sidhu, Bathinda

Parampal Kaur Sidhu, 59, made headlines when she resigned as an IAS officer on April 3. On April 11, Sidhu and her husband, Gurpreet Singh Maluka, a former Shiromani Akali Dal general secretary, joined the BJP.

On April 13, even before the announcement of her ticket, she told The Indian Express that she would contest from Bathinda. She is the daughter-in-law of senior Akali leader Sikander Singh Maluka. Sikander Singh said he tried to prevent his son and daughter-in-law from joining the BJP. Sidhu will be up against SAD MP Harsimrat Badal, Congress’s Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu, and Aam Aadmi Party’s Gurmeet Singh Khudian.

Manjeet Singh Manna, Khadoor Sahib

Manjeet Singh Manna, 47, became the Baba Bakala MLA in 2007 and 2012 on an SAD ticket. However, in 2021, he shifted to the BJP and unsuccessfully contested the 2022 Assembly election from the same seat. He had to face the ire of farmers during the 2022 poll campaign as he was in charge of the BJP’s Amritsar rural section.