This Article is From Jul 27, 2014

AAP To Contest Punjab By-Polls: Arvind Kejriwal

AAP To Contest Punjab By-Polls: Arvind Kejriwal
Chandigarh: The Aam Aadmi Party will contest the by-poll on the two seats in Punjab which will be held next month. AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal announced this after the party's three-day national executive meeting which concludes in Sangrur (Punjab) today.

Mr Kejriwal, however, said that his party will not contest assembly elections in Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Maharashtra scheduled later this year.

The two AAP candidates named by Mr Kejriwal to fight the by-polls in Punjab's Patiala and Talwandi Sabo seats are Balkar Singh Sidhu and Harjeet Singh Adaltiwala respectively.

The two seats fell vacant after sitting Congress MLAs, Captain Amarinder Singh and Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu, resigned from these segments.

While Mr Singh resigned from the Patiala seat after he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Amritsar defeating BJP heavyweight Arun Jaitley, the Talwandi Sabo seat fell vacant when Mr Sidhu deserted Congress to join the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).

The 117-member Punjab Assembly has 57 SAD MLAs, Congress strength is 43, BJP has 12 and there are three independents.

The Aam Aadmi Party is upbeat about Punjab where it won four seats in the national elections held in April-May - as many as the SAD. AAP had picked up an impressive 24.4 per cent of the vote share in the process.

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