Cong list out in Patiala

Chandigarh : Sticking to the “one family, one ticket” norm followed in the Assembly elections, the PPCC today released the first list of 31 candidates for the Patiala MC elections.
However, the norm will be relaxed in the case of families which have two or more sitting councillors each (there is one such case in Jalandhar, where Jagdish Raja and his wife are both councillors).
The list was approved at a meeting chaired by CM Capt Amarinder Singh. PPCC chief Sunil Jakhar and Punjab affairs incharge Asha Kumari were present.
Jakhar said it was decided that veteran Congress workers would be preferred to those who had switched over from other parties. Those who lost the MC elections earlier but remained loyal to the party would be considered for nomination. The party will take a tough stand against rebels and deserters, he added.
The candidates are: Parnit Kaur, Harish Aggarwal, Jaspal Kaur, Harish Nagpal, Shanti Devi, Atul Joshi, Saroj Sharma, Shammi Kumar, Meenakshi Kashyap, Nikhil Batish Sheru Pandit, Leela Rani, Sandeep Malhotra, Sonia Kapoor, Sanjeev Bittu, Varsha Kapoor, Krishan Chand Bhudhu, Monika Sharma, Happy Verma, Yoginder Singh, Aarti Gupta, Harwinder Nippi, Vinti Sungar, Rajesh Mandora, Gurinder Kalika, Vijay Kumar, Rajni Sharma, Amarvir Bedi, Satwant Rani, Naresh Duggal, Meenakshi Singla and Sukhwinder Singh. The candidates for the remaining 29 wards of Patiala, 80 of Jalandhar and 85 of Amritsar would be named by tomorrow. The district-level committees of Patiala, Jalandhar and Amritsar — each headed by a Cabinet-rank minister — have already shortlisted the candidates and forwarded their names for approval to the state-level screening committee headed by the PPCC chief.