Chandigarh civic polls: Congress prepares ‘tentative’ list of candidates, to be out Friday

From ward 1, Harmohinder Singh Lucky is likely to be fielded against BJP’s Mahesh Inder Singh Sidhu. Lucky had contested the polls last time but lost. From ward 2, turncoat Deepa Asdhir Dubey who just shifted from BJP to the Congress a few days ago will be fielded against BJP’s Raj Bala Malik.

Sources said the announcement of candidate from ward 3 would be done later. It is likely that Congress Chief Pardeep Chhabra’s wife will be fielded from there. BJP has not announced its candidate from ward 3.

Rajesh Sharma will be fielded by the Congress against Mayor Arun Sood in ward 8 while Devinder Singh Babla is likely to be fielded against Saurabh Joshi from ward 18. From ward 22 where BJP’s Davesh Moudgil would be contesting, Sandeep Bhardwaj of the Congress has been shortlisted. Babla and Rajesh Sharma have contested in the past

From ward 4, former Mayor Poonam Sharma’s name has been shortlisted against BJP’s Sunita Dhawan. Sitting Congress councillor Gurbax Rawat would be fielded from ward 9 which she represents.

From ward 21, former Congress councillor Jatinder Bhatia is likely to give a tough fight to BJP’s fresh face Gurpreet Singh Dhillon.

Councillor Harphool Chander Kalyan is likely to be fielded from ward 7 while former Mayor Kamlesh’s name has been shortlisted for ward 6. Wards 6 and 7 have been reserved for SC candidates.

From ward 17, Youth Congress chief Harmail Kesri’s wife is likely to face BJP’s Asha Jaiswal while Congress member Meenaxi Chaudhary’s name has been shortlisted against BJP’s Heera Negi in ward 13.

Meanwhile from ward 20, Congress member Shashi Shankar Tiwari is likely to face BJP’s new face Shakti Devshali. No name from Congress leader Manish Tewari’s camp has been shortlisted for any seat so far.

Congress Chief Pardeep Chhabra said the election committee of the party met to discuss on the ward-wise applicants and another meeting will take place on Thursday or Friday.