BJP’s 8th list of 11 candidates: Taranjit Sandhu, Preneet Kaur get ticket; Sunny Deol out

Former Indian ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu will make his electoral debut as the BJP fielded him from Amritsar in the Lok Sabha election 2024, days after he joined the party.

The BJP on Saturday released the 8th list of candidates announcing names from 11 constituencies in Odisha, Punjab and West Bengal. Former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh’s wife Preneet Kaur who is also a new entry to the party got the ticket from Patiala, the constituency that she represented from the Congress. Bollywood actor Sunny Deol who was known for his poor attendance in Parliament after he became an MP from Gurdaspur has been dropped. Dinesh Singh Babbu has been fielded from the constituency instead.

In Odisha, where the BJP will be contesting the election alone without BJD’s support, the party fielded six-time MP Bhartruhari Mahtab from Cuttack. Mahtab recently quit the BJD to join the BJP.

Three-time Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, grandson of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, will contest from Ludhiana and Sushil Kumar Rinku who recently left AAP has been fielded from Jalandhar. Hans Raj Hans, who won from North West Delhi in 2019 on a BJP ticket will contest from the Faridkot seat (SC).

In West Bengal, Dr Pranat Tudu has been fielded from Jhargram and former IPS Debashish Dhar from Birbhum. Dhar recently resigned from the police service citing personal reasons. Dr Pranat Tudu too resigned from the West Bengal Health Services recently. He was posted as the medical officer at Jhargram Government Medical College and Hospital.

Four-time Patiala MP Preneet Kaur, who remained suspended by the Congress in the later part of her MP term, for anti-party activities, earlier said she had no problem in contesting from Patiala if BJP wanted.