Shiromani Akali Dal nominated Ghubaya from Ferozpur Lok Sabha seat

Jalalabad, January 22

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today announced the candidature of the Chief Parliamentary Secretary S. Sher Singh Ghubaya from the Ferozpur constituency for the next Lok Sabha elections. S. Sher Singh Ghubaya is sitting MLA from Jalalabad and won by more than 44000 votes in last Vidhan Sabha elections.

Addressing a massive rally here, the announcement was made by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. Meanwhile, Shiromani Akali Dal president and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal appealed a record victory for Sher Singh Ghubaya. He said that SAD-BJP will win all the 13 seats in state. "Due to development agenda of the present SAD-BJP government of the state alliance contestants are getting a massive response from the people. As the Lok Sabha campaign hoots up, rival contestants would be no match to SAD-BJP candidates, who would compete to attain best leads in general elections", says Mr. Badal.

SAD, which will be contesting 10 of the 13 Lok Sabha seats, has so far announced the candidates for 8 Seats. The party having a mass base in State, had fielded Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal from Fatehgarh Sahib, Punjabi folk singer Hansraj Hans from Jalandhar (reserve), Paramjit Kaur Gulshan from Faridkot (reserve), Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa from Sangrur, Prem Singh Chandumajra from Patiala, Dr. Rattan Singh from Khadoor Sahib and Dr. Daljeet Singh Cheema from Anandpur Sahib. The party is still to announce the candidates for Bathinda and Ludhiana. A member of the Badal family may contest from Bathinda as their traditional seat Faridkot is now reserved.

On other hand, riding on internecine war in the party and delay in declaration of names of candidates by the Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) have surged ahead of their rivals in campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls. It is expected that SAD is likely to complete first round of campaigning before the Congress announces its candidates. Political observers feel that it will be proved expensive for congress, which is already overwhelmed by increased dissidence within. Early campaign by the SAD is likely to reap better results as the farmers in rural area would be busy in harvesting by March and would be less interested in the poll campaign later on. At present out of 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab, SAD has hold on 8, followed by BJP (three) and Congress (two).