Lok Sabha polls: Sunny Deol dropped; BJP fields ex-diplomat Sandhu from Amritsar, Preneet Kaur from Patiala

With Lok Sabha elections drawing closer, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released its eighth list on Saturday (Mar 30) which included the names of candidates fielded from Punjab, Odisha and West Bengal.

In Punjab, the saffron party has handed the ticket to former Congress MP and former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh's wife Preneet Kaur from Patiala who had won the same seat in the 2019 general elections on Congress ticket.

Preneet Kaur, who was suspended by the Congress in February 2023 over alleged 'anti-party' activities, joined the BJP earlier this month.

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She embraced her new party on March 14 in the presence of prominent leaders, including Punjab unit chief Sunil Jakhar, who himself was formerly associated with the Congress.

Kaur is set to face AAP candidate Dr Balbir Singh from the Patiala seat. The Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal are yet to announce their candidates from Patiala.

BJP drops Sunny Deol

In a significant development, Bollywood actor Sunny Deol was sensationally axed from the Gurdaspur seat. The ticket from the constituency has been given to Dinesh Singh "Babbu".

Babbu had remained a three-time MLA from Sujanpur in Pathankot.

The opposition parties had attacked BJP over Deol's "absence" from the constituency.

Hans Raj Hans fielded from Faridkot seat

The saffron party fielded singer and MP from North West Delhi Hans Raj Hans from Faridkot which is a reserved seat.

He will be facing AAP candidate Punjabi actor and singer Karamjit Anmol.

At present, the seat is represented by Congress MP Mohammad Sadique.

Ex-diplomat Taranjit Singh Sandhu handed ticket from Amritsar

BJP fielded former Indian Ambassador to the United States Taranjit Singh Sandhu from the Amritsar constituency.

The 61-year-old former diplomat is Teja Singh Samundri's grandson, who was one of the founding members of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.

The ruling party last won the seat in the year 2009 when Navjot Singh Sidhu was the candidate.

BJP's Arun Jaitley and Hardeep Singh Puri lost in the 2014 and 2019 elections respectively.

From the Jalandhar constituency, the party fielded AAP's lone MP Sushil Kumar Rinku who joined the BJP just four days ago.

Rinku, who had been named the candidate by the AAP, quit the Kejriwal-led outfit in less than a year after joining it.

On the other hand, MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, who quit Congress and joined BJP on Tuesday, was fielded from the Ludhiana seat.

He is the grandson of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, who was assassinated in a terror attack in 1995.

Rabindra Narayan Behera fielded from Jajpur seat

Rabindra Narayan Behera was handed the ticket by the party from Jajpur seat in Odisha, Sukanta Kumar Panigrahi from Kandhamal and Bhartruhari Mahtab from Cuttack.

In West Bengal, the ruling party fielded former IPS officer Debashish Dhar from Birbhum and Pranat Tudu from Jhargram.

(With inputs from agencies)