Badal may field daughter in Tarn Taran

Badal too will face a barrage of criticism if he offers his daughter a ticket ignoring the claim of many senior Akali leaders who have been loyal to the party for decades.Congress, however, faces the problem of finding a suitable candidate to replace Kairon who holds considerable clout in the Patti and Naushehra Pannuan assembly segments which form part of the parliamentary constituency of Tarn Taran.

Meanwhile, Congress seems to have played safe in its selection of candidates for the Amritsar and Gurdaspur seats. Sodhi, BJP’s candidate from Amritsar, is a new face and has little interaction with people in this constituency.

The Akali Dal vote in the constituency’s rural segments can beat Sodhi in the contest. In Gurdaspur, Bhinder, a former Union Minister, has established herself as the leader of the masses. Sahni, who unsuccessfully contested the previous Lok Sabha election, is strong enough to pose a challenge to Congress. The Congress alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party, however, is likely to make a considerable impact on the election scene. Congress will certainly score an advantage over its rivals. It had won Amritsar and Gurdaspur seats independently and in Tarn Taran, this arrangement could swing the voting pattern.