Team of cabinet ministers to personally oversee on-ground campaigning for by-polls: Punjab CM

Ahead of the bye-elections in Punjab, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday set the tone for the on-ground campaign for the candidates and announced that three to four cabinet ministers would be personally overseeing the campaigning process in the four constituencies.

The Congress on Monday announced the names of all four candidates for the upcoming assembly bye-elections in Punjab.

The declared candidates include Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal who will be contesting from the Phagwara reserved constituency. Indu Bala will be contesting from Mukerian, Sandeep Singh Sandhu from Dakha and Raminder Awla will contest from Jalalabad constituency.

According to Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) statement, Singh on Tuesday decided that the ministers will be supported by 16-18 MLAs each, with around two dozen senior officer-bearers of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) working day and night to leverage the advantage that the party already has in the state.

With this, the Chief Minister has set the stage for a virtual carpet bombing of all the four constituencies by the Congress during the by-elections scheduled for October 21.

Singh, who met three of the four-party candidates at his residence today, will himself accompany the Dhaka and Jalalabad candidates -- Sandeep Singh Sandhu and Raminder Awla, for filing of their nominations on September 30.

Senior AICC leader and the party's Punjab in-charge Asha Kumari would be accompanying the other two on the same day said a party spokesperson revealed.

Singh expressed confidence that all the four candidates would sweep the polls for the Congress, which had maintained its stranglehold in the state even during the recent Lok Sabha elections in defiance of the national trend.

At the same time, he urged the candidates not to be defensive in their campaign strategy, pointing out that the Congress government in the state had done more for the people in just two and a half years than the previous SAD-BJP government had done in 10.

Notably, the Congress is the only party that has already announced its candidates for all the four seats scheduled to go to by-poll.

Bye-elections to four assembly seats in Punjab is likely to witness a three-cornered clash among the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the SAD-BJP alliance and the ruling Congress.

Bye-polls in all four assembly seats of the state are scheduled to take place on October 21 and the results will be declared on October 24.