A total of six parties have joined hands in Punjab to form a third front

The Punjab Democratic Alliance has today announced its candidates for seven constituencies, and has reserved the other seats to respective parties. This evening, the Lok Insaaf Party chief Sukhpal Singh Khaira announced all the candidates in a press conference today. All the founders of the parties were present at the conference and showed unity. The new entrants to the alliance are Mangat Ram Pasla’s Revolutionary Marxist Party of India (RMPI) and Communist Party of India (CPI).

Simarjit Singh Bains’s Lok Insaaf Party, Dr Dharamvir Gandhi’s Nawa Punjab Party, Sukhpal Khaira’s Punjab Ekta Party and Bahujan Samaj Party are already members of the alliance, taking the count of member parties to six. The sitting MP, Dr Dharamvir Gandhi, the founder of jst formed Nawa Punjab Party has been fielded from Patiala. Notably, there are reports that the CM’s wife, Parneet Kaur would be contesting from the constituency.

Khadoor Sahib constituency has been allotted to Bibi Paramjit Kaur Khalsa, who is a candidate of Punjab Ekta Party. She is the wife of slain journalist, Bhai Jaswant Singh Khalra and is known for her social service and upliftment of the marginalised in the area. Manvinder Singh Gyaspura of Lok Insaaf Party will be contesting from Fatehgarh reserved constituency. He is known for his contribution as a whistle blower in the Hon Chillar Sikh Genocide case.

Master Baldev Singh Jaiton from Punjab Ekta Party would be contesting from Faridkot Reserve constituency. Vikram Singh Sodhi of BSP has been fielded from Anandpur Sahib. He is an international Polo player of repute and is the founder of Anandpur Sahib Heritage Foundation. Choudhary Khushi Ram of BSP will be the candidate from Hoshiarpur Reserve constituency and Jallandhar Reserve constituency has Balwinder Kumar of BSP contesting the election.

The PDA has allotted the remaining constituencies to the member parties and the respective parties would announce the candidates on their own in the coming days. CPI candidate to be announced for Ferozepur. RMPI candidate to be announced for Gurdaspur.

Lok Insaaf Party would field a candidate from Ludhiana and Amritsar, whereas Punjab Ekta Party would announce its candidate from Bathinda. Khaira said that the Sangrur constituency has some special circumstances and has been left open to consideration for the time being.