Assembly Polls 2017: AAP to field Bhagwant Mann Against Sukhbir Badal

JALALABAD, Punjab—On the first day of his 11 day tour of Punjab, Arvind Kejriwal and other senior Aam Aadmi Party leaders announced candidature of Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann against Deputy Chief Minister and SAD President Sukhbir Badal from Jalalabad.  The announcement was made in Jalalabad itself, Sukhbir Badal’s home turf.  This was the first gathering of its kind by the Aam Aadmi Party at Sukhbir’s own constituency.  The gathering witnessed a large turn out.

Several of Aam Aadmi Party’s senior leaders were present on the occasion, including Bhai Jarnail Singh, Sanjay Singh, Gurpreet Singh Waraich (Ghuggi) and Advocate HS Phoolka.  Kejriwal announced that if Sukhbir Badal changes his constituency, Bhagwant Mann would follow him there.  After the announcement, Bhagwant Mann also invited Capt. Amarinder Singh to contest from the same constituency.

Before Kejriwal’s kicked off his tour in Punjab, the state leadership of Aam Admi Party also released 5^th list of its candidates for assembly polls due in 2017. The party has nominated 12 candidates from different assembly constituencies of Punjab.

Aam Admi Party has nominated Bibi Kuldeep Kaur Tohra (daughter of former SGPC President Gurcharan Singh Tohra) from Sanaur. Bibi Tohra had resigned from the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) after the Party President Sukhbir Badal had nominated son of a former DGP for 2017 assembly polls in place of Bibi Tohra.  

The Candidate list is as follow:

Candidate nominated by AAP leadership from Khadoor Sahib Constituency Bhupinder Singh Bittu had no prior affiliation with AAP. By nominating his name suddenly, the AAP leadership has wondered the AAP cadre in constituency and some of its activists may revolt within few days.

Bhupinder Singh Bittu is a Congress leader who had rebelled party fold in 2015 after the Congress MLA Ramanjit Singh Sikki had resigned from the MLA post in protest of sacrilege of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji in village Bath. In February 2016, he had independently contested the by-poll of Khadoor Sahib.