The Congress party has decided to field Chief Minister of Punjab Charanjit Singh Channi from two seats in the upcoming state assembly elections happening on February 20, 2022. On Sunday, While releasing a list of eight candidates fighting the elections on Congress ticket, the Congress party has announced the candidature of CM Channi from Bhadaur, a reserved seat for Scheduled Castes.
Apart from his traditional home turf of Chamkaur Sahib, Charanjit Singh Channi is now set to contest elections from Bhadaur as well. In the first list of 86 candidates announced by the Punjab Congress, CM Charanjit Singh Channi was nominated from his current constituency Chamkaur Sahib, which is reserved for SCs.
It is said that with Bhadaur, a rural seat with a 35 per cent Dalit population, the Congress is sure of getting a comfortable majority with the projection of Channi as a Dalit face. Pirmal Singh, who had won the Bhadaur seat in the 2017 elections as an Aam Aadmi Party candidate, had recently drifted to the Congress with hope for a ticket from the same seat.
In the 2017 assembly elections, the Congress party had lost all three seats in the Barnala district – including Bhadaur. With the positioning of Channi as a candidate from Bhadaur, Congress hopes to revive its prospects in the district. Political analysts say that the move brightens Channi’s chance as a preferential Chief Ministerial candidate in the state.
In a similar move, the Congress party had earlier fielded Rahul Gandhi from Amethi and Waynad in the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. The ex-Congress chief had lost the traditional turf of Gandhis to Smriti Irani at that time.