3 min readChandigarhOct 23, 2024 09:55 AM IST
First published on: Oct 23, 2024 at 09:52 AM IST
The Congress Tuesday released its candidate list for the November 13 bypolls to four Assembly seats in Punjab, fielding state unit chief and Ludhiana MP Amrinder Singh Raja Warring’s wife Amrita Warring from Gidderbaha and Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa’s wife Jatinder Kaur from Dera Baba Nanak.
The bypolls to Gidderbaha, Dera Baba Nanak, Chabbewal (SC), and Barnala Assembly seats were necessitated after the sitting MLAs were elected to the Lok Sabha in the elections earlier this year.
The Congress, on expected lines, fielded Amrita Warring from the Gidderbaha, the Assembly seat that her husband had won consecutively in 2012, 2017 and 2022. Raja Warring vacated the seat after he was elected to Lok Sabha from Ludhiana.
Amrita will be locked in a triangular contest in Gidderbaha where BJP has fielded Manpreet Singh Badal, a bete noire of Raja Warring, and AAP has named Hardeep Singh Dimpy Dhillon, a turncoat from Shiromani Akali Dal. On its part, an Akali Dal delegation Tuesday urged Akal Takht to allow party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, who has been declared a tankhaiya, to contest from Gidderbaha.
Amrita, 45, holds a masters degree in computer application (MCA) and is founder of Aasra Foundation, an NGO that serves the needy and focuses on education and health care sectors.
Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa was the Dera Baba Nanak MLA when he won the parliamentary election from Gurdaspur and vacated the Assembly seat. The Congress, predictably, has fielded his wife Jatinder Kaur from the seat. Randhawa had won the Dera Baba Nanak assembly seat in 2002, 2012, 2017 and 2022. Jatinder Kaur, 58, is a graduate from the Guru Nanak Dev University and has been handling the constituency for a long time now.
The Congress also fielded Kuldeep Singh Dhillon from the Barnala Assembly seat. Dhillon, 51, is a matriculate and the party’s district president of Barnala. He had earlier held positions such as Barnala Bus Operator Union president and Malwa Zone Bus Operator union president.
Barnala seat fell vacant after Gurmeet Singh Hayer, who was the sitting MLA from AAP, won the general election from the Sangrur Lok Sabha constituency.
The Congress named Ranjit Kumar as its candidate for the Chabbewal (SC) seat. Kumar had unsuccessfully contested the Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha seat on a BSP ticket. A law graduate, Ranjit Kumar, 52, remained Hoshiarpur district bar council chief.
The Chabbewal bypoll was necessitated after Raj Kumar Chabbewal, who was a Congress MLA but later joined AAP, was elected to the Lok Sabha from Hoshiarpur. The AAP has fielded his son Ishank Chabbewal from the seat.
The ruling AAP has also fielded Harinder Singh Dhaliwal from Barnala, and Gurdeep Singh Randhawa from Dera Baba Nanak. Dhaliwal is a cousin of Sangrur MP Hayer and Randhawa is the party’s constituency incharge from Dera Baba Nanak.
Apart from naming former state minister Manpreet from Gidderbaha, the BJP has named Ravi Karan Singh Kahlon from Dera Baba Nanak and Kewal Singh Dhillon from Barnala.
The polling in these assembly segments will be held on November 13 and the counting of votes will take place on November 23.
The last date for filing nominations is October 25 and the scrutiny of nomination papers will be conducted on October 28, while the last date for withdrawal of candidature is October 30.
Ludhiana MP Amrinder Singh Raja Warring with wife Amrita and Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa with wife Jatinder Kaur. (File) 
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