Punjab Election 2022: Charanjit Channi to contest from 2 seats

New Delhi, Jan 30: Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi will contest from Bhadaur constituency, his second seat after Chamkaur Sahib for Punjab Assembly elections.

The Congress Sunday released its third list of eight candidates fielding former Patiala mayor Vishnu Sharma from the Patiala assembly seats against its former leader Amarinder Singh. Sharma was once considered a close confidant of the former chief minister.

Former union minister Pawan Kumar Bansal's son Manish Bansal has been fielded from the Barnala assembly constituency. The party announced Mohan Singh Phalianwala from the Jalabad assembly seat against Shiromani Akali Dal's Sukhbir Singh Badal.

The Congress also named Sukhpal Singh Bhullar as its candidate from Khem Karan and Tarsem Singh Siala from Attari (SC) seat, while Satbir Singh Saini Balichiki will fight from Nawanshahr. From Ludhiana South, the Congress has named Ishwarjot Singh Cheema.

The Congress is seeking to retain power in Punjab where it is pitted against the AAP, the SAD-BSP and the BJP which is in alliance with Ex-CM Amarinder Singh's Punjab Lok Congress and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa's Shiromani Akali Dal Sanyunkt.

There is a growing clamour within the Punjab Congress over the need to declare a chief ministerial candidate for next month's assembly polls, with many senior leaders throwing their weight behind Charanjit Singh Channi, the state's first chief minister from the Scheduled Caste community.

Channi became chief minister last year after Amarinder Singh was made to resign from the post by the Congress.

The clamour on the issue grows in the Congress's state unit in the backdrop of the Aam Aadmi Party, which is emerging as a strong contender for the polls, declaring its MP and state unit chief Bhagwant Mann as its chief ministerial candidate.

The Shiromani Akali Dal, which has been the Congress's main rival, may not have formally named its candidate for the chief minister's post, but its president Sukhbir Singh Badal is the likely choice.

Even Channi, who is from the Scheduled Caste community, which enjoys a sizeable presence in the state, had recently said that the Congress should declare its chief ministerial candidate and pointed out that it had been seen in the past that doing so had allowed the party reap electoral gains.

Punjab goes to the polls on February 20 and the counting of votes will be held on March 10.