The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unveiled its second list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Punjab on Tuesday. The list includes three candidates, notably replacing Union Minister Som Parkash with his wife, Anita Som Parkash, for the Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha seat.
Anita Som Parkash expressed gratitude towards the party leadership for the trust placed in her. The BJP has previously secured victories in Hoshiarpur during the 2014 and 2019 elections. While Vijay Sampla won the seat in 2014, Som Parkash defeated Congress nominee Raj Kumar Chabbewal in 2019.
Hoshiarpur was one of the three seats contested by the BJP in alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). However, the BJP is contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha polls independently.
Anita Som Parkash will be up against AAP nominee Raj Kumar Chabbewal in the upcoming elections. The Congress and SAD are yet to announce their candidates for the Hoshiarpur seat.
In another significant move, the BJP nominated former IAS officer Parampal Kaur Sidhu for the Bathinda parliamentary seat, currently held by SAD MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal. Sidhu, daughter-in-law of senior Akali leader Sinkander Singh Maluka, recently joined the BJP along with her husband Gurpreet Singh Maluka.
Before joining the BJP, Sidhu, a 2011-batch IAS officer, had resigned from her position. She will be competing against Congress candidate Jeet Mohinder Sidhu and AAP’s Gurmeet Singh Khudian for the Bathinda seat. The SAD is yet to announce its candidate. Bathinda has traditionally been a stronghold for the SAD, with Harsimrat winning the seat in 2009, 2014, and 2019. She defeated Congress candidate Amrinder Singh Raja Warring in the last Lok Sabha elections.
Additionally, the BJP has fielded former MLA Manjit Singh Manna Mianwind from the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha seat, which is currently held by Congress MP Jasbir Singh. The AAP has nominated Laljit Singh Bhullar for this seat.
With this announcement, the BJP has named candidates for nine out of the total 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab. Earlier, candidates were announced for Ludhiana, Amritsar, Faridkot, Patiala, Gurdaspur, and Jalandhar.