SAD announces Deepinder Dhillon as party nominee from Patiala

The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today anounced the candidature of Deepinder Dhillon from Patiala Lok Sabha seat.
Dhillion, who had joined the SAD on July 12, 2012 after being expelled by Congress for contesting assembly polls as an independent, will now in all probability fight against sitting Congress MP Preneet Kaur. He was once a close confidant of Kaur, who is likely to renominated by her party.
Aam Aadmi Party has declared Dharamvira Gandhi as its candidate from the seat.
Meanwhile, independent MLA Simarjit Singh Bains has declared his name as an independent from Ludhiana Lok Sabha constituency after quitting from associate membership of Akali Dal. The ruling party has annouced MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali as its candidate from the seat.

Out of the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab, SAD will contest 10 as per the seat arrangement with its ally BJP which will field its nominees on three seats.
The Akali Dal is in the process of declaring its candidates from Ferozepur and Faridkot.

The party has already declared candidates from Bathinda (Harsimrat Kaur Badal), Sangrur (Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa), Anandpur Sahib (Prem Singh Chandumajra), Fatehgarh Sahib (Kulwant Singh), Khadoor Sahib (Ranjit Singh Brahmpura), Jalandhar (Pawan Kumar Tinu, sitting MLA) and Ludhiana (Manpreet Singh Ayali, sitting MLA).
The Bains brothers -- Simarjit who is MLA from Atam Nagar and Balwinder Singh Bains who is legislator from Ludhiana South -- are known to have a considerable clout in Ludhiana.

Simarjit Bains said that he had already apprised the Akali Dal about his decision to contest independently if not given a ticket by the party.
In the 2012 assembly elections, while Balwinder had defeated SAD nominee by 32,233 votes from Ludhiana (south), Simarjit had trounced SAD heavyweight Hira Singh Gabria by 28,503 votes from Atam Nagar seat.
These two independent MLAs had drifted away from the SAD during the 2012 assembly elections and won both the seats independently, but were later convinced to become associate members of the ruling party.
Though Congress has not formally declared Union information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari's name for Ludhiana seat, but the sitting member of Parliament started constituency tour almost two months ago.