LS polls: Congress fields sitting Punjab MP Manish Tewari from Chandigarh

The Congress on Saturday fielded two-time MP from Punjab Manish Tewari as its candidate from the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat.

Veteran party leader and former MP Pawan Kumar Bansal was also in the reckoning for the seat.

Tewari's candidature, along with 15 other candidates, was announced during a meeting of the Congress' central election committee in Delhi.

A sitting MP from the Anandpur Sahib Lok Sabha constituency in Punjab, Tewari is a former union minister. He was elected as MP from Ludhiana in 2009.
 

The names of Tewari, Bansal and Chandigarh Congress president Harmohinder Singh Lucky were doing rounds for candidature from the Chandigarh parliamentary constituency, currently held by BJP MP Kirron Kher.

Tewari will face BJP candidate Sanjay Tandon in the electoral contest.

The BJP on Wednesday named Tandon, the former Chandigarh BJP president, as its candidate, replacing incumbent MP Kher.

Tewari won the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from the Anandpur Sahib seat, defeating Shiromani Akali Dal nominee Prem Singh Chandumajra.

Tewari's father V N Tewari was assassinated by terrorists in April 1984. He was an author, professor at the Panjab University, Chandigarh, and nominated MP.

Polling for the lone Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat will take place on June 1.