Chandigarh: The Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) met in New Delhi and finalised candidates for about 20 Punjab Assembly seats on the recommendation of the Campaign Committee.
The committee reportedly received objections about the shortlisted candidates on the remaining six seats of the first list.
The candidature of the party’s women wing head, Baljinder Kaur, was kept pending. Sources said she was a frontrunner from the Talwandi Sabo constituency, but owing to some technical issue, her name could not be cleared.
Kaur was first announced as the party’s Lok Sabha candidate from Bathinda but later singer-turned-politician Jassi Jasraj got the ticket. Before being appointed the state head of women wing, she unsuccessfully contested Talwandi Sabo by poll, where she lost to Congress-turned- Akali leader Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu.
Party leaders, speaking off the record, said some of the candidates most likely to be given tickets were HS Phoolka from Dakha, ex-cop Sajjan Singh Cheema from Sultanpur Lodhi, Samar Partap Singh from Fazilka and Harjot Singh Bains from Sahnewal.
Arvind Kejriwal, AAP national convener and head of the PAC, chaired the meeting before leaving for Dharamsala for a 10-day Vipassana meditation camp.
Party sources said Sanjay Singh, state political affairs in charge, and Sucha Singh Chhotepur, AAP state convener, had been tasked with announcing the candidates in Chandigarh later this week.
Adding to the mystery over the names, different lists of the selected candidates were circulated on the social media. Leaders of AAP and other parties were also left guessing about the final list.
Sources said Kejriwal insisted on clearing the names as regular delays in the release of first list was causing doubts among party volunteers.
