Dullo, Bhattal, Jagir Kaur file nominations

Chandigarh, Jan 23 (UNI) Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief S S Dullo, deputy chief minister Ms Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and former Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) chief Bibi Jagir Kaur were among the 317 candidates who today filed their nominations for the February 13 Punjab Assembly elections.

Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) Surinder Arjun also filed his papers for the Amritsar Parliamentary byelection, scheduled on the same day. The seat has been vacated by BJP's Navjot Singh Sidhu after his conviction in a road rage death case.

Today's 317 nominations have taken the total number of candidates to 486 in the fray for the assembly polls so far, with two more days remaining for filing the candidatures.

Mr Dullo filed his nomination from Khanna, with his wife and sitting MLA Harbans Kaur filing as covering candidate.

Ms Bhattal would be defending her Lehragagga seat against Shiromani Akali Dal's Prem Singh Chandumajra.

Besides Bibi Jagir Kaur, the sitting MLA from Bholath, the other SAD heavyweights who filed their papers included Capt Kanwaljit Singh from Banur, Tamil Nadu Governor S S Barnala's son Gagndeep Singh from Dhuri, Nirmal Singh Kahlon from Fatehgarh and Raghubir Singh from Kapurthala.

Punjab Ministers Jagmohan Singh Kang (Morinda), Avtar Henry (Jalandhar North), Harnam Dass Johar (Ludhiana West), Rakesh Pandey (Ludhiana North), Gurkanwal Kaur (Jalandhar Cantt), Ramesh Chander Dogra (Dasuya), Partap Bajwa (Kahnuwan) also filed their nominations today.

The other major Congress candidates who filed papers included Tej Parkash (Payal), Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi (Gur Harsahai), Kewal Singh Dhillon (Barnala), Tripat Bajwa (Qadian) and Parliamentary Secretaries Razia Sultana (Malerkotla), Raj Kumar (Verka) and Harbans Lal (Sirhind) and Gurchet Bhullar (Valtoha).

Today was the third day for filing of nominations for the elections to the 117-member Punjab Vidhan Sabha.

The prominent BJP candidates who filed the papers included former minister Manoranjan Kalia (Jalandhar Central), former deputy speaker Satpal Gosain (Ludhiana east), Swarna Ram (Phagwara) and K D Bhandari (Jalandhar North).

The Left candidates included Hardev Arshi (CPI) from Budhlada, Kulwinder Singh (CPI) from Valtoha and Kewal Singh (CPM) from Jalandhar Cantt.

UNI