M A I N   N E W S

PUNJAB POLLS 2012
BJP’s first list out; Master Mohan Lal, 2 other MLAs dropped
Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 2
The BJP today released its first list comprising 19 candidates, retaining most of the sitting MLAs. However, the party’s central parliamentary board, which met here tonight, dropped two-time minister Master Mohan Lal and allotted the Pathankot seat to Ashwani Sharma. The BJP is contesting 23 of the total 117 seats in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha.

Sitting MLA Harish Bedi from Ludhiana North has been replaced by Praveen Bansal, Senior Deputy Mayor of Ludhiana. Sitting MLA Sita Ram Kashyap has been dropped from Dinanagar and replaced by Bishan Dass Dhuppar.

The party did not announce nominees for three seats in Amritsar and for the Phagwara constituency. Swarna Ram, who resigned as minister in July last year, is the sitting Phagwara MLA. Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Sidhu’s wife is one of the candidates for the Amritsar East seat.

As expected, the BJP has fielded its former state president Rajinder Bhandari from Ludhiana West, Raj Khurana from Rajpura and Manoranjan Kalia from Jalandhar Central.

The BJP has retained minister Tikshan Sud from Hoshiarpur. The party has allocated the Abohar seat to Luxmi Bhadoo, a relative of Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

The other candidates are:

Dinesh Baboo: Sujanpur; Arunesh Shakkar: Mukerian; Amarjit Singh Shahi: Dasuya; Madan Mohan Mittal: Anandpur Sahib

(Nangal); Surjit Jyani: Fazilka; Sukhpal Singh Nannu:Ferozepur; Amritsar North:Anil Joshi; Bhagat Chunni Lal: Jalandhar West; KD Bhandari: Jalandhar North; and Satpal Gosian: Ludhiana Central.

Cong high command clears 70 names
* Decision on ticket for leaders’ kin today
* Eight Youth Congress leaders among those given ticket
Naveen S Garewal/TNS

Chandigarh, January 2
The Congress high command has cleared 70 names for ticket allotment. Most sitting MLAs have been retained, but at least three former MLAs, Gurdip Singh Bhaini, CS Atwal and Jasjit Randhawa, whose seats were scrapped post-delimitation, could not be adjusted. Among those allotted the ticket are eight Youth Congress leaders.

The Congress election committee, that met today with AICC president Sonia Gandhi in the Chair, has withheld names for seats demanded by Congress leaders for their kin. A policy decision will be taken tomorrow whether or not to allot the ticket to relatives of senior partymen.

Also, nominees for 47 seats will be decided tomorrow. OP Soni has been allotted Amritsar North though he wanted Amritsar Central, but the seat has been allotted to a Youth Congress candidate. Dr Raj Kumar’s candidature has been cleared for Chabewal, Balbir Sidhu’s for Mohali and Sunil Jakhar’s for Abohar.

Sources in Delhi said names for 85 seats had been almost finalised, but there was lack of consensus on the remaining 32.