BJP has declared candidates from three seats of Punjab for the Lok Sabha elections. Dr. Subhash Sharma has been given ticket from Anandpur Sahib. BJP has expressed confidence in Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi from Firozpur and Arvind Khanna from Sangrur.

The nomination process has started in Punjab from Tuesday. Candidates have also started nomination. This time BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal are contesting separately. At the same time, Indian Alliance parties Aam Aadmi Party and Congress are also contesting elections separately.


BJP fields Arvind Khanna from Sangrur
Putting an end to the wait, BJP has finally fielded 57-year-old two-time MLA Arvind Khanna from Sangrur parliamentary seat. Arvind Khanna had contested the Lok Sabha elections from Sangrur parliamentary seat in 2004 on Congress ticket and lost the election to Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa of Akali Dal. Arvind Khanna has been famous for providing free medical facilities through his social service organization Umeed Foundation. Khanna joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in January 2022 and is currently serving as the vice president of the state BJP. Khanna is a member of the core committee and finance committee of BJP Punjab. Earlier, Khanna had served as General Secretary of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC), PPCC Treasurer.

Let us tell you that from Sangrur, Aam Aadmi Party, Congress, Akali Dal Amritsar, Shiromani Akali Dal and Bahujan Samaj Party have played a bet on Sikh faces. In such a situation, BJP has placed its bet on Arvind Khanna to tap the urban vote bank through the Hindu face. Political experts believe that BJP is keeping an eye on the mathematics of vote division along with the caste equation. BJP is assuming that if there is division of votes in rural areas then it can get urban vote bank. Sangrur parliamentary seat has about 33 percent urban population and this seat has 32 percent population of Dalit class. However, BSP has fielded its candidate here.

Arvind Khanna has been an MLA from Sangrur and Dhuri assembly constituencies, which are part of this parliamentary seat, and has also contested the 2004 Lok Sabha elections on a Congress ticket. However, he lost the election to Akali Dal leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa by a margin of 27277 votes. Arvind Khanna was then successful in taking 259551 votes.

Only Sikh faces have been reaching Parliament House from this seat. But in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, Vijayinder Singla of Congress had opened the door to victory for the Hindu face by winning in the Sikh dominated area.