AAP fields Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal from Hoshiarpur, Malvinder Kang from Anandpur Sahib for Lok Sabha polls
Dr Raj Kumar, a two-time MLA from Chabbewal assembly constituency, had joined the AAP on March 15. A prominent Dalit leader, he was deputy leader of the Congress Legislature Party and resigned from his assembly seat before switching sides
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday announced the names of its candidates for the Anandpur Sahib and Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha constituencies in Punjab.
AAP state chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang has been fielded from Anandpur Sahib, while ex-MLA Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal, who joined the AAP from the Congress last month, is the party candidate from the Hoshiarpur (reserved) parliamentary constituency.
With the second list of candidates released by AAP, national general secretary (organisation) Dr Sandeep Pathak said the number of seats in Punjab for which the party has named its nominees now stands at nine, out of total 13. The remaining four seats are Gurdaspur, Jalandhar, Ferozepur, and Ludhiana.
Dr Raj Kumar, a two-time MLA from Chabbewal assembly constituency, had joined the AAP on March 15. A prominent Dalit leader, he was deputy leader of the Congress Legislature Party and resigned from his assembly seat before switching sides.
A radiologist, he runs scanning centres in Hoshiarpur and adjoining areas.
Kang, who was made the AAP’s state chief spokesperson in April 2022, had joined the party in July 2021. He was the state general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Punjab earlier and had quit the party in 2020 over the (now repealed) farm laws. A former students’ union leader, Kang was elected president of the Panjab University Students’ Council (PUSC) in 2002 and 2003.
The AAP had taken the lead among all major political parties in the state by coming out with its first list of eight candidates on March 14. They included NRI affairs minister Kuldeep Dhaliwal from Amritsar, transport minister Laljit Bhullar from Khadoor Sahib, sports minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer from Sangrur, agriculture minister Gurmeet Khudian from Bathinda, health minister Dr Balbir Singh from Patiala, sitting MP Sushil Kumar Rinku from Jalandhar, former MLA Gurpreet Singh GP from Fatehgarh Sahib and Karamjeet Anmol from the Faridkot Lok Sabha constituency. However, Rinku quit the party on March 27 and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has also fielded him from the same constituency.
