With congress facing tough Oppn in Punjab polls, party likely to field sitting MPs

Punjab Congress has decided to give tickets to the Parliamentarians to contest the upcoming Assembly elections in the state.

By Ajit Jha Punjab Congress has decided to give tickets to the Parliamentarians to contest the upcoming Assembly elections in the state.

Punjab Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Pratap Singh Bajwa told ANI that he will contest the Punjab assembly elections. The sitting MLA from the Qadian Assembly constituency is Fateh Singh Bajwa, brother of Pratap Singh Bajwa, who left Congress and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Jasbir Singh Gill, another Lok Sabha MP from Punjab Congress, while talking to ANI said that he is ready to contest the assembly elections if the party asks him. Gill is presently representing Punjab's Khadoor Sahib constituency in Lok Sabha.

Congress party has conducted six election surveys in Punjab so far and these surveys stated that the Congress party is expected to win the assembly elections in the constituencies of five parliamentarians, the party sources said. So, the party is considering giving tickets to the MPs of the respective constituencies, the source stated.

The Congress Party has 8 Lok Sabha MPs and 3 Rajya Sabha MPs from Punjab. This is a crucial election for the Congress because other than facing its old opponent Shiromani Akali Dal and Aam Aadmi Party, it will have its own rebellious leader Captain Amarinder Singh in the fray.

So far six meetings of the screening committee have been held regarding Punjab and there is a meeting of the Congress Central Election Committee (CEC) on Thursday and the party is likely to release the first list of candidates for Punjab. The assembly polls in the state will be held in 2022.

Ahead of the Assembly elections, Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt), and Amarinder Singh-led Punjab Lok Congress have formed a six member-Committee to decide on seat sharing, informed Punjab BJP in charge Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. In the 2017 Punjab Assembly polls, Congress won an absolute majority in the state by winning 77 seats and ousted the SAD-BJP government after 10 years. Aam Aadmi Party emerged as the second-largest party winning 20 seats in 117-member Punjab Legislative Assembly. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) could only manage to win 15 seats while the BJP secured 3 seats. (ANI)

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