Punjab Newsline | Tarn Taran
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from Patti in Tarn Taran district and former Punjab minister Laljit Singh Bhullar has announced that he will not contest the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections.
Bhullar made the announcement through a social media post shortly after the AAP released its first list of 40 candidates. In his post, he said that he had heard about the desire of people from the Patti constituency for the party to field him again, but he had decided not to contest this time.
“I have heard from my brothers and sisters of the Patti constituency about their wish that the party should give me another opportunity to contest the elections. However, I have decided not to contest this time,” Bhullar wrote.
Bhullar is currently lodged in jail in connection with the suicide case of Dr Gagandeep Singh Randhawa, the District Manager (DM) of the Punjab State Warehousing Corporation in Amritsar. The case surfaced when Bhullar was serving as a minister in the Punjab government.
Bhullar's announcement comes amid speculation over the party's candidate selection for Patti. It is being believed that he may have anticipated that the party would not give him a ticket this time.
Interestingly, AAP has already fielded Ludhiana West MLA and minister Sanjeev Arora in its first candidate list, despite him being lodged in Bhondsi Jail in Gurugram. Arora's inclusion in the list has also drawn attention in the context of Bhullar's decision not to contest.
