As many as 93 women candidates are in the fray for the Punjab Assembly polls with Congress fielding a maximum of 11 nominees from the fair sex followed by the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal, which has 10.
Of the total 1,080 candidates in the fray for the 117 assembly seats going to polls on January 30, BJP has fielded three women candidates. Twenty-four women are contesting on tickets given by other parties, while 45 are contesting as Independents.
Congress' Muktsar candidate 60-year-old Karan Kaur Brar has declared total assets at Rs 128 crore, making her the wealthiest candidate.
Navjot Kaur Sidhu (48), wife of cricketer-turned- politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, who is contesting from Amritsar (East) also features among the wealthiest candidates with assets worth over Rs 22 crore.
Apart from Navjot Kaur and Brar, the daughter-in-law of former chief minister Harcharan Singh Brar, there are several other candidates with influential backgrounds.
While Congress' Gurdaspur MP Pratap Singh Bajwa's wife Charanjeet Kaur Bajwa (52) has been fielded from Qadian, party's Jalandhar MP Mohinder Singh Kaypee's wife Suman (55) has been accommodated from Jalandhar West reserved seat.
SAD has fielded Kuldeep Kaur Tohra (58), kin of late Akali veteran Gurcharan Singh Tohra, from Patiala Rural.
Among other women candidates are CPI's Lovleen Kaur Chahal (56), contesting from Sujanpur in Pathankot district, and former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal (66), who is seeking re-election from Lehra on Congress ticket.
