Chandigarh:
After the uncertainty of the last few days, the Congress has finally released its list of 114 candidates for the 117-member Punjab assembly elections to be held on January 30.
State Congress president and former chief minister Amarinder Singh will contest from his traditional Patiala assembly seat while another former chief minister and now Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal will contest again from the Lehra seat in Sangrur district.
The list containing 114 names was finally released at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi just before midnight on Thursday.
Former legislator Jagbir Singh Brar, who switched from the Shiromani Akali Dal to the newly-floated Peoples Party of Punjab (PPP) led by former finance minister Manpreet Badal to the Congress in the last over one year, has been fielded from the Jalandhar Cantt seat.
Mahesh Inder Singh Badal has been fielded from the crucial Lambi seat where he will take on his cousin brothers - Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal of the Akali Dal and his younger brother Gurdas Badal, who is the father of Manpreet Badal and the PPP candidate.
Amarinder Singh's son Raninder Singh has been fielded from the Samana assembly seat in Patiala district. Raninder's mother Preneet Kaur is the Lok Sabha MP from Patiala and the union minister of state for external affairs.
The main contest in the state is between the ruling Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) combine and the Congress. With the PPP and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) also in the fray, the contest on many seats will be triangular or multi-cornered.