BJP leader and former Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal has been fielded from the Gidderbaha assembly seat, according to the party’s list of candidates.
Ravi Karan Singh Kahlon will contest from Dera Baba Nanak and Kewal Singh Dhillon from Barnala.
Badal had been elected from Gidderbaha on Shiromani Akali Dal’s ticket four times — in 1995, 1997, 2002 and 2007.
He won from Bathinda Urban in the 2017 assembly polls on a Congress ticket. However, he lost this seat in the 2022 assembly polls.
Badal joined the BJP in January 2023 after quitting the Congress. The Gidderbaha seat fell vacant after Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, who was the Congress MLA, was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Ludhiana seat in the 2024 parliamentary elections. The BJP named former MLA Kewal Singh Dhillon from the Barnala assembly segment. Dhillon had unsuccessfully contested the Sangrur Lok Sabha bypolls in 2022 on a BJP ticket.
He had unsuccessfully contested the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat in 2019 and the Barnala assembly seat in 2017 on Congress tickets.
He was elected from Barnala assembly seat in 2007 and 2012 on Congress tickets. He had joined the BJP in 2022 after quitting the Congress.
The Barnala assembly seat fell vacant after Gurmeet Sigh Hayer, who was the AAP MLA, was elected from the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat. Hayer had won the Barnala seat in the 2017 and 2022 assembly polls.
The BJP fielded Ravi Karan Singh Kahlon from the Dera Baba Nanak seat. Kahlon had joined the BJP in May after he was expelled by the Shiromani Akali Dal for alleged anti-party activities.
Kahlon is the son of former Punjab Assembly Speaker and former rural development and panchayat minister Nirmal Singh Kahlon.
Kahlon had unsuccessfully contested the 2022 Punjab assembly polls from the Dera Baba Nanak seat on a SAD ticket.
The Dera Baba Nanak seat fell vacant after Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, who was the Congress MLA from here, was elected from Gurdaspur parliamentary seat.
The counting of votes will take place on November 23.
