219 file nominations in Punjab on last day

On the last day of filing of nominations in Punjab for the Lok Sabha elections, 219 candidates filed their papers for the 13 parliamentary seats, taking the total number in the fray to 455, election officials said here Wednesday.

Prominent among those who filed their nominations Wednesday were actor Vinod Khanna (BJP, Gurdaspur) and Leader of Opposition in Punjab assembly Sunil Jakhar (Congress, Ferozepur).

Elections to all 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab will be held April 30.

The biggest contest is in Amritsar where Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley of the Bharatiya Janata Party is pitted against former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh of the Congress. Jaitley was fielded after the BJP dumped its sitting MP, cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu.

In Gurdaspur, Vinod Khanna faces sitting MP and Punjab Congress president Pratap Singh Bajwa.

In Bathinda, sitting MP Harsimrat Badal, wife of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal and daughter-in-law of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is seeking re-election on the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal ticket. She is pitted against Badal senior's nephew Manpreet Badal.

Other big names in the fray are union minister Preneet Kaur (Congress), wife of Amarinder Singh, from Patiala, former union minister Ambika Soni from Anandpur Sahib and comedian actor Bhagwant Mann of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) from Sangrur.