Punjab decides fate of 278 candidates

Chandigarh, May 18

In Punjab, the fate of  278 candidates, including 24 women, will be decided in the seventh and final phase of polling for the 13 Lok Sabha seats.

Besides Punjab, more than 6 lakh voters in the Union Territory of Chandigarh will choose between 

sitting MP and BJP candidate Kirron Kher and former Railway Minister and Congress candidate Pawan Kumar Bansal.

Actor-turned-politician Sunny Deol, SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar, AAP Punjab unit chief 

Bhagwant Mann are among the prominent candidates in the fray.

Banking on his stardom and roots in Punjab, Bollywood star Sunny Deol is contesting from Gurdaspur where he faces sitting MP and Congress candidate Sunil Jakhar. Badal, who is Jalalabad MLA, is the SAD nominee from Ferozepur. He is pitted against SAD rebel and now Congress candidate Sher Singh Ghubaya.

Mann, AAP’s “best bet” in Punjab, is seeking re-election from Sangrur. Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal is contesting from Bathinda for the third time. She faces Congress candidate Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, AAP’s Baljinder Kaur and Punjab Ekta Party’s Sukhpal Singh Khaira. Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri is the BJP candidate from Amritsar where the Congress has fielded sitting MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla.

Among Congress heavyweights, former Union Minister Manish Tewari, who is fighting from Anandpur Sahib, is pitted against SAD’s Prem Singh Chandumajra. Punjab CM’s wife Preneet Kaur is trying her luck from Patiala. She is pitted against sitting MP Dharamvira Gandhi and SAD candidate Surjit Singh Rakhra. A conglomeration of outfits, the Punjab Democratic Alliance, led by AAP rebel Sukhpal Singh Khaira, is contesting all 13 seats while the SAD (Taksali), a breakaway faction of the Shiromani Akali Dal, has fielded one candidate from Anandpur Sahib. —  PTI