Lok Sabha polls: AAP fields Ashok Parashar Pappi against BJP’s Ravneet Singh Bittu in Ludhiana

New Delhi [India], April 16 (ANI): The Aam Aadmi Party released a list of four candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Punjab on Tuesday.

The party has given ticket to Ashok Parashar Pappi from Ludhiana. He will face Ravneet Singh Bittu, who recently joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) last month. Ravneet Singh Bittu is the grandson of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh and the son of former Punjab minister Tej Parkash Singh. Ashok Parashar Pappi is an MLA from Ludhiana Central.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, Bittu defeated Simarjeet Singh Bains from the Lok Insaaf Party by 76,372 votes. In 2014, he defeated the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Harvinder Singh Phoolka with a margin of 19,709 votes.

AAP also announced that Jagdeep Singh Kaka Brar will contest from Ferozpur, Amansher Singh (Shery Kalsi) from Gurdaspur, and Pawan Kumar Tinu from Jalandhar.

Polling for the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab will take place in the last phase on June 1.

Earlier, the Aam Aadmi Party announced its first list of eight candidates for the Lok Sabha elections. The list includes five cabinet ministers: Gurmeet Singh Khudian from Bathinda, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal from Amritsar, Laljit Singh Bhullar from Khandur Sahib, Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer from Sangrur, and Dr Balbir Singh from Patiala.

In Punjab, the Congress that is going solo in the general elections has fielded Gurjeet Singh Aujla from the Amritsar seat, Amar Singh from Fathgarh Sahib, Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu from Bhatinda, Sukhpal Singh Khaira from Sangrur, and Dharamvir Gandhi from Patiala. In the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, the INC-led UPA alliance won eight seats, while the NDA secured four.

The Aam Aadmi Party, in its debut, won one seat.

Meanwhile, the BJP released its 12th list of seven candidates for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections on Tuesday. The list comprises BJP candidates for seven Lok Sabha constituencies across Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.

The party has fielded Abhijit Das (Bobby) against Trinamool Congress general secretary and Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee in the Diamond Harbour constituency, a seat considered a stronghold for the ruling West Bengal Party. BJP also released its list of 21 candidates for the Odisha Assembly elections.