Assembly elections: Parkash Singh Badal, Digambar Kamat among 24 to file nominations in Punjab, Goa

Chandigarh/Panaji: Twenty-four candidates, including Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his deputy Sukhbir Singh Badal, on Thursday filed their papers in Punjab and Goa which go to polls on 4 February. In Punjab, where Youth Congress chief Amrinder Singh Warring and the chief minister’s estranged nephew Manpreet Badal also filed their papers on Thursday, the total nominations filed went up to 28 on the second day of filing of papers, an election office spokesman said in Chandigarh.[caption id=“attachment_3145820” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. AP[/caption] Badal filed his papers from his traditional bastion Lambi as SAD candidate while his son Sukhbir again entered into the fray from Jalalabad seat. Manpreet, an estranged nephew of Badal, filed his papers as Congress candidate from Bathinda (urban) seat whereas Warring will again try his luck from Gidderbaha seat. Sukhbir’s wife and Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal filed her papers as covering candidate for her husband and father-in-law. SAD’s Manpreet Singh Ayali filed his papers from Dakha, while BSP’s Bhupinder Singh entered the poll arena from Mansa. No nomination was filed for the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat, by-poll to which was necessitated following the resignation of sitting MP and Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh. Assembly polls and by-poll to Amritsar Lok Sabha seat in Punjab will be held on 4 February. Candidates can file their nomination papers till 18 January while scrutiny of nomination papers will take place on 19 January and the withdrawal of candidature can be done till 21 January. The counting of votes will take place on 11 March. Punjab will witness a three-way fight between the SAD, AAP and Congress in all 117 seats. While Congress is going it alone on all seats, ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and its ally BJP will contest on 94 and 23 seats respectively. A new entrant to Punjab Assembly elections, AAP has fielded candidates for 110 seats and its ally Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) on seven. Other political outfits in the fray include BSP, Apna Punjab Party (APP), the Left comprising CPI and CPM, and SAD-Amritsar. In Goa, former chief minister and Congress leader Digambar Kamat became the first candidate to file his nomination papers for the 4 February Assembly elections. The sitting MLA from Margao submitted papers to election officials on the second day of filing nominations. On the first day, no nomination was received. Ruling BJP has fielded Sharmad Pai Raiturcar from Margao, the commercial hub of Goa located some 35km from here. The former chief minister had been representing this Assembly segment since 1994 - first on BJP ticket (till 2005) and later as the Congress MLA. He was the Congress chief minister between 2007-2012. The 62-year-old Congress leader said BJP, during its five-year rule, neglected Margao. “My election plank would be development of the constituency,” he said.