Chandigarh: Several defectors of various political parties have been given tickets by their new parties for the assembly elections to be held on February 20 in Punjab. Among such leaders are former sports minister and sitting MLA Gurmit Singh Sodhi, MLA Fatehjung Singh Bajwa and former minister Anil Joshi. Sodhi was earlier the Sports Minister in the Amarinder Singh-led Congress government and later joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BJP has now fielded a four-time MLA from Gurharsahai in Ferozepur district from the Ferozepur city assembly seat.
Another former Congress leader and MLA Fatehjung Singh Bajwa has joined the BJP and has been fielded from Batala. Bajwa is the sitting MLA from Kadian. The Congress has fielded his elder brother and Rajya Sabha MP Pratap Singh Bajwa for the February 20 elections.
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Former Punjab minister Anil Joshi, who left the BJP and joined the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) last year, will contest from the Amritsar North assembly seat. Joshi was an MLA from the same constituency in 2007 and 2012. However, he had to face defeat in the 2017 assembly elections. Sitting MLA and former Congress leader Harjot Kamal has also joined the BJP. He will contest from Moga. Kamal had left the Congress after the Congress denied him a ticket from this constituency.
The Congress has fielded actor and philanthropist Sonu Sood’s sister Malvika Sood Sachar. Two-time MLA and former Congress leader Arvind Khanna, who recently joined the BJP, will contest from Sangrur. Khanna, considered close to former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, had quit the Congress in 2015. Former Punjab minister and three-time MLA Joginder Singh Mann will contest from Phagwara, who joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) after breaking his 50-year-old ties with the Congress.