|HT|
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal filed his nomination papers for the Jalalabad assembly seat in Fazilka district on Monday. Sukhbir, the Ferozepur Lok Sabha member, is contesting from Jalalabad for the fourth time.
He was accompanied by wife and Bathinda Lok Sabha member Harsimrat Kaur Badal.
In the last decade, the Jalalabad segment has seen two byelections after Akali MLAs vacated the seat.
Sukhbir had first contested from Jalalabad in 2009 byelection to assume the office of deputy chief minister. He nurtured the seat as his stronghold and won again in 2012 and 2017.
After winning the Ferozepur Lok Sabha seat in 2019, Sukhbir vacated the Jalalabad segment.
In the bypoll for Jalalabad two years ago, the SAD fielded Raj Singh Dibbipura but he lost by over 16,000 votes to Congress candidate Raminder Awla. To woo the Rai Sikh community, which has a sizeable population in this segment, Sukhbir has announced to field a Rai Sikh candidate from Ferozepur parliamentary seat after winning from Jalalabad.
This time, the Congress did not field incumbent MLA Awla, a moneybag, against Sukhbir. Awla has been replaced by party-hopper Mohan Singh Phallian Wala.
Mohan, who was elected the Ferozepur MP as the BSP candidate, had unsuccessfully contested the 2017 assembly elections as an AAP candidate from the Ferozepur Rural seat.
The AAP has fielded Jagdeep Kamboj, whereas the BJP’s Puran Chand is in the fray from the semi-urban seat.
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