It’s official, Punjab ex-CM Charanjit Channi to fight from Jalandhar

New Delhi, April 14

Former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi is among the six candidates announced today by the Congress for the Lok Sabha elections in Punjab.

The party named Gurjeet Singh Aujla for the Amritsar seat. Channi (61) has been fielded from the Jalandhar (SC) constituency. He has already taken on rent a house in Jalandhar for campaign work.

Incumbent MP Amar Singh has been given the go ahead again for the Fatehgarh Sahib (SC) constituency.

Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu will be the party candidate from Bathinda, Sukhpal Singh Khaira from Sangrur and Dharamvira Gandhi from Patiala. Gandhi, a physician, had defeated Preneet Kaur, then a Congress candidate, in Patiala in 2014. While Kaur shifted her loyalty to the BJP, Gandhi joined the Congress on April 1. Kaur and Gandhi would have a showdown again as Kaur, wife of former CM Amarinder Singh, has been named the BJP candidate from Patiala.

Aujla is the sitting MP from Amritsar. While Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria and Inderbir Singh Bolaria, sitting and former MLAs, respectively, also made strong pitch for the ticket for the Amritsar seat, Aujla turned out to be the final choice of the party.

The BJP has fielded former diplomat Taranjit Singh Sandhu from Amritsar, while AAP has announced Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, a minister in the Punjab Government, as its candidate from the seat.

Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu, a four-time MLA from Talwandi Sabo, was with the SAD before he joined the Congress. Sukhpal Singh Khaira, fielded from Bhatinda, is Congress MLA from the Bholath constituency.