Punjab election: Gurnam Singh Chaduni's SSP announces alliance with Balbir Singh's SSM

Ahead of the upcoming Punjab elections, Gurnam Singh Chaduni-led Sanyukt Sangharsh Party (SSP) and Balbir Singh Rajewal-led Sanyukt Samaj Morcha (SSM) have announced an alliance and reached an agreement. The Haryana-based farmer leader has announced that SSP will contest 10 seats in state Assembly polls while SSM has announced 47 of its candidates. 

"Sanyukt Sangharsh Party and Sanyukt Samaj Morcha have reached an agreement for Punjab Assembly elections. We (SSP) will contest 10 seats," ANI quoted SSP chief Chaduni as saying.

Meanwhile, the BJP Parliamentary committee has discussed the names of the potential candidates on Monday with party leaders and the finalised list is likely to be announced before January 21. The saffron party, which is going into the polls in alliance with former CM Captain Amarinder Singh’s PLC & SAD (Sanyukt), discussed the Punjab elections at the party headquarters in Delhi on Monday.

BJP leader Dushyant Gautam said that candidates on all the assembly seats have been finalised and the seat-sharing with the alliance has also been discussed thoroughly. In Monday’s meeting, the party had discussed other details as well. "We are now taking details regarding the candidates and discussing other matters about the election," Gautam added.

Notably, Congress has not declared its CM candidate yet. A recent video shared by Indian National Congress on its official Twitter handle suggests that the party is supporting incumbent Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi as its candidate.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal announced Bhagwant Mann as Aam Aadmi Party's CM face for the upcoming Punjab elections. Ruling himself out of the decision for the top post, the AAP supremo had asked the people of Punjab to suggest names of their preferred CM face on January 13. 

Mentioning that the party received more than 21 lakh responses under the aegis of this campaign, Kejriwal revealed that a majority of the persons voted in favour of Mann.

Complying with directions of the Election Commission, 3,54,075 licensed weapons have been deposited with police ahead of February 20 Punjab assembly elections, state's Chief Electoral Officer Dr S Karuna Raju said in Chandigarh on Wednesday.