Five-time Punjab chief minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) patron Parkash Singh Badal on Monday filed his nomination for the Punjab assembly election from Lambi constituency. At 94, he is the oldest candidate contesting in the upcoming polls. So far approx 1178 candidates have filed their nominations against 117 assembly seats of Punjab Assembly polls.
“The entire party pleaded to Parkash Sahab not to retire from politics and he has acceded to our request to contest the forthcoming elections from Lambi. Parkash Sahab has always been in the forefront to offer his services for the welfare of Punjab and Punjabis and he is doing so again,” SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal said at a press conference.
A five-time MLA from the Lambi constituency, Parkash Sahab has been on foot, continuously meeting people of his home constituency and their houses despite his age.
Sukhbir filed his nomination from Jalalabad, and CM Charanjit Singh Channi filed his nomination from second seat Bhadaur.
Whereas in Patiala, on Monday, Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) chief and former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh filed his nomination papers from Patiala Urban and inaugurated his party office in the city.
Amarinder termed Sidhu’s charge that his (Amarinder’s) hand in Bikram Singh Majithia being pitted against him by the SAD ridiculous. “I’m not Bikram’s uncle,” quipped Amarinder.
On Rahul Gandhi’s statement that the Congress would announce its chief ministerial candidate in the state after taking inputs from the ground, Amarinder said this was just theatrics. He pointed out that as per procedure, the people elect their MLAs and then the CLP elects the chief minister, “and so all this talk of is just drama”.
In the 2017 Punjab Assembly polls, Congress had won an absolute majority in the state by winning 77 seats and de-rooted the 10-year-strong SAD-BJP coalition government. Punjab is set to go to the polls on 20 February and the counting of votes will take place on 10 March. The state will witness a battle between the SAD, Congress, BJP, and AAP.