After a long wait, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ended the suspense surrounding its 95-ward Ludhiana Municipal Corporation election candidates, naming 94 late on Wednesday evening. The party is yet to pick a candidate for Ward 70. A significant highlight of the list is that, barring Rajinderpal Kaur Cheema, family members of almost all AAP MLAs have been allocated tickets to contest the municipal polls. The list includes Yuvraj Singh (Ward 50), son of Kulwant Singh Sidhu, Rakesh Parashar (Ward 90), brother of Ashok Parashar Pappi, Meenu Parashar (Ward 77), wife of Ashok Parashar, Sukhchain Kaur Bassi (Ward 61), wife of Gurpreet Gogi Bassi, Aman Bagga Khurana (Ward 94), son of Madan Lal Bagga, and Sukhmel Singh (Ward 14), a relative of Daljit Singh Grewal.
The announcement has drawn attention to the party’s decision to heavily rely on its MLAs’ kin for the civic elections. With such prominent names in the fray, the list has sparked discussions about the concentration of power and opportunities within close circles of party leadership. The party has fielded Divya Danav from Ward 1. Her father had left Shiromani Akali Dal for joining AAP. The party has picked Surinder Singh for Ward 2, Paramjit Kaur for Ward 3, Sanjeev Sharma for Ward 4, Lakhwinder Chaudhary for Ward 5, Mahinder Singh Bhatti for Ward 6, Sukhwinder Kaur for Ward 7, Deepak Kumar for Ward 8, Shelly Malhotra for Ward 9, Pradeep Sharma for Ward 10 (kin of Ashok Parashar Pappi), Ramandeep Kaur for Ward 11, Jagpal Singh for Ward 12, Inderjit Kaur for Ward 13, Jaspreet Kaur for Ward 15, Ashwani Sharma for Ward 16, Satinder Kaur for Ward 17, Balwinder Singh for Ward 18, Nidhi Gupta for Ward 19, Ankur Gulati for Ward 20, Hardev Singh Sodhi for Ward 21, Jaspal Singh Grewal for Ward 22, Preeti Kaur for Ward 23, Sarabjit Singh Saini for Ward 24 and Sarita for Ward 25.
Similarly, Dr Deepak Bansal has been fielded from Ward 26, Seema Rani from Ward 27, Amarjit Singh from Ward 28, Kamal Manocha from Ward 29, Nikku Bharti from Ward 30, Tripta Thapar from Ward 31, Balbir Singh from Ward 32, Sushila Rani from Ward 33, Sarabjit Singh from Ward 34, Prabhalpreet Kaur from Ward 35, Mehtab Singh from Ward 36, Saroj Manan from Ward 37, BL Neeraj from Ward 38, Seema from Ward 39, Prince Johal from Ward 40, Rajni Sharma from Ward 41, Kuldeep Singh from Ward 42, Harvinder Kaur from Ward 43, Sohan Singh from Ward 44, Navjot Kaur from Ward 45, Jagdeep Singh Rinku from Ward 46, Usha Rani from Ward 47, Pradeep Kumar from Ward 48, Parminderjot Kaur Jassal from Ward 49 and Komalpreet from Ward 51.
Karamjit Singh Gill is the party’s choice for Ward 52, Mehak Chadha for Ward 53, Amarinderpal Singh for Ward 54, Amrit Varsha Rampal for Ward 55, Tanveer Singh Dhaliwal for Ward 56, Veera Bedi for Ward 57, Satnam Singh for Ward 58, Manpreet Kaur Khangoora for Ward 59, Gurpreet Singh for Ward 60, Navdeep for Ward 62, Maninder Kaur for Ward 63, Indu Shah for Ward 64, Aradhna for Ward 65, Manisha for Ward 66, Sharanjit Kaur for Ward 67, Pushpinder Bhanot for Ward 68, Parminderjit Kaur for Ward 69, Nandini Jayrath for Ward 71, Kapil Kumar for Ward 72, Sadhna Aul for Ward 73, Sunny Chaudhary for Ward 74, Simarpreet Kaur for Ward 75, Harish Kumar for Ward 76, , Surinder Kaur Manna for Ward 78, Amandeep Kaur for Ward 79, Pinky Bansal for Ward 80, Rekha Verma for Ward 81, Ajay Nayyar for Ward 82, Ravinder Kaur for Ward 83, Anil Parti for Ward 84, Sonaf Ahuja for Ward 85, Manjit Singh for Ward 86, Gurjeet Kaur for Ward 87, Neeraj Ahuja for Ward 88, Aradhna Atwal for Ward 89, Tajinder Kaur for Ward 91, Narinder Bhardwaj for Ward 92, Kamaljit Kaur for Ward 93 and Kashmir Kaur for Ward 95.