Lok Sabha polls 2019: AAP names 3 more candidates from Punjab

PATIALA: following two rounds of discussions held between the member of the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) core committee, the party on Sunday announced the names of three more candidates who will be contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Gurdaspur , Jalandhar and Fatehgarh Sahib .


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Announcing the names Justice Zora Singh from Jalandhar (reserved), Baljinder Singh Chaunda from Fatehgarh Sahib (reserved) and Peter Massihi from Gurdaspur, party president Bhagwant Mann said the candidates had been carefully picked up by the party to break the ‘political alliance’ between Capt Amarinder Singh and Prakash Singh Badal .

With the latest announcement, the party had named its candidates at eight seats. Earlier, the party had named five candidates in October last year which including sitting MPs Bhagwant Mann from Sangrur and Sadhu Singh from Faridkot along with Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal from Amritsar Dr Ravjot Singh from Hoshiarpur and Narinder Singh Shergill from Anandpur Sahib.

Mann said prior to announcing these names, one each from Malwa, Majha and Doaba segments of the state, the party’s core committee had held two parleys, one at Garshankar a few days back and the other at Sangrur on Sunday.

While, Justice Zora Singh who had probed sacrilege incidents had joined AAP in December, last, Baljinder Singh Chaunda had remained the Joint Secretary of SC/ST Wing while Peter Massihi has been a party volunteer.

Mann said the party was holding deliberations over a number of names to contest the Lok Sabha elections at the remaining five seats including Patiala, Ludhiana, Bathinda, Ferozepur and Khadoor Sahib.

Earlier, the party had initiated talks with the BSP and then with the Shiromani Akali Dal (Taksali) for forging an alliance to contest these elections. While the BSP decided to side with the Punjab Democratic Alliance, the Taksalis called off the talks with the party after Arvind Kejriwal expressed his desire to tie up with the Congress in Haryana for the upcoming parliamentary polls.