Cong releases 2nd list of 16 candidates, drops one sitting MLA, renames five

New Delhi : The Congress on Friday declared its second list of 16 candidates for the Punjab Assembly elections, dropping one sitting MLA and re-nominating five others.
Tarlochan Singh Soondh, the sitting Congress MLA from Banga reserved segment, has been dropped in favour of Satnam Singh Kainth, a former MP and BSP leader, who unsuccessfully contested Adampur SC seat in 2012.
Kainth was then defeated by Akali Dal’s Pawan Kumar Tinu by a margin of over 19,000 votes.
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The party has re-nominated the following sitting MLAs to defend their seats—three time MLA Jagmohan Singh Kang in Kharar; three time MLA Amrik Singh Dhillon in Samrala; Indian Youth Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring in Gidderbaha and Karan Kaur Brar in Muktsar.
Sitting MLA from Bhadaur SC segment Mohammad Sadique, 77, has been shifted to Jaito reserved constituency raising possibilities of the Congress dropping Jaito MLA Joginder Singh Panjgraian, whose survey reports are poor.
MLA Ajaib Singh Bhatti has been shifted to Malout SC seat.
By re-nominating Warring from Gidderbaha, the Congress has given clear signals that sitting MLAs in general segments will not be allowed to shift their seats. The swap rule will only be allowed for reserved segment candidates.
From the Kartarpur SC seat, the Congress has fielded Choudhry Surinder Singh, the son of its late leader Choudhry Jagjit SIngh.Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has meanwhile fielded two Punjab Youth Congress leaders this time — Barinder Pahara from Gurdaspur and Daman Bajwa from Sunam.