Congress gives tickets to 54 sitting MLAs

Chandigarh, Jan 18 (UNI) To avoid dissidence, the ruling Congress has renominated 54 of its sittings MLAs including 16 ministers and a majority of Chairpersons of Boards and Corporations in the Punjab assembly elections to be held on Februaru 13.

Seven MLAs have been axed by the ruling party in the first list of 98 candidates released by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in Delhi last night. The party has also not taken a decision on the future of five sitting MLAs.

The Congress is yet to finalise the names of its candidates for 19 seats----Kharar, Samana, Sri Hargobindpur, Moga, Ludhiana rural, Nathana, Mansa, Amritsar West, Dhuri, Muktsar, Patti, Balachaur, Kot Kapura, Talwandi Sabo, Jalandhar Central, Badhaur, Bathinda, Sunam and Phagwara. The sitting MLAs include Finance minister Surinder Singla (Bathinda), senior leader Bir Davinder Singh (Kharar), Bihar Governor Buta Singh's nephew, Joginder Singh from (Phagwara, reserved), and former minister Avtar Singh Birmi (Ludhiana Rural).

The most notable omission from the Congress list is senior Congressman Khushal Behl, who had applied for the ticket from Gurdaspur, which he represents in the state assembly. Mr Behl, a veteran of many an electoral battle and who had been a minister in governemnts headed by the late Giani Zail, the late Darbara Singh and the late Beant Singh, has been sidelined.

Mr Behl had been School Education minister in the Capt Amarinder Singh government but was dropped in a reshuffle. He had sought the ticket for either himself or his son.

In the last assembly polls in 2002, the Congress had won 62 seats and added another three in the by-elections held for the Ajnala, Gharshankar and Kapurthala seat. Of the 62 MLAs elected in 2002, the Congress has given the tickets to 50 of them, while all the three candidates who had won the by-elections have also been renominated. The winners of the by-elections include Harpartap Singh from Ajnala, Mrs Sukhjinder Kaur from Kapurthala and Luv Kumar Goldie from Garhshankar.

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