A day after Aam Aadmi Party announced its candidate for the Sangrur Lok Sabha by-poll, the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party (SAD-BSP) alliance decided to field Balwant Rajoana’s sister Kamaldeep Kaur as the candidate from the same seat. She will contest the election on the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) symbol. The Sangrur Lok Sabha seat fell vacant after Bhagwant Mann resigned from there having won the Dhuri assembly constituency in this year’s Punjab assembly elections.
It is notable that Balwant Rajoana is given the death penalty for his role in the assassination of Punjab’s former chief minister Beant Singh. Kamaldeep Kaur met her brother in the Patiala Central Jail before her name was announced as the candidate. She will file her nomination on 6th June 2022.
Bhai Balwant Singh Rajoana’s sister Kamaldeep Kaur Rajoana will contest Sangrur Lok Sabha bye-election as a joint candidate of SAD-BSP & all Panthic organisations. She will contest on SAD symbol & will file her nominations on June 6: SAD pic.twitter.com/qeqB6Lo5AN
— ANI (@ANI) June 4, 2022
A SAD delegation, including Sikander Singh Maluka, Virsa Singh Valtoha, Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, Harish Rai Dhanda, and Prabhjot Singh Dhaliwal visited Kamaldeep Kaur in Ludhiana on Saturday morning. The delegation conveyed to her the decision of the party to field her as the SAD contestant for the upcoming by-poll. 46-year-old Kamaldeep Kaur met her convicted brother Balwant Singh Rajoana in the Patiala Central Jail and then gave her consent to fight the election.
SAD leader Harish Rai Dhanda while interacting with the media said, “We conveyed the party’s decision to her and asked her to contest so that the cause of Sikh political prisoners can be highlighted. She appreciated the party’s decision but wanted to consult her brother before confirming.”
Balwant Singh Rajoana is on death row for the assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh. He had appealed to electors to vote for the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in the run-up to the assembly elections earlier this year. He made this appeal when he was visiting a gurudwara in Ludhiana on January 31 to attend the bhog ceremony of his father. His father Jaswant Singh passed away on January 22.
In July 2007, Rajoana was convicted for his involvement in the explosion outside the Punjab civil secretariat that killed Beant Singh. The blast took place on August 31, 1995 outside the Punjab and Haryana civil secretariat in Chandigarh. Along with Punjab’s former chief minister Beant Singh, 16 others were killed in this explosion.
Candidates for the by-election to the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat can file their nominations till June 6. By-election to the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat in Punjab will be held on June 23 while the results will be announced on June 26.
The Sangrur Lok Sabha seat is considered to be a stronghold of the Aam Aadmi Party. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had won the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat twice in 2014 and 2019. In this byelection, Aam Aadmi Party is fielding Gurmail Singh who is the Sangrur district in charge of AAP.
