Punjab elections: Ex-Army Chief General JJ Singh joins BJP, welcomed by Gajendra Shekhawat

Ahead of Punjab Assembly Election 2022, former Army Chief General Joginder Jaswant Singh on Tuesday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in the presence of Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and several other senior leaders. In 2005, Gen JJ Singh was the first Sikh to be appointed as the Army Chief in the country. 

The former Army Chief was earlier Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) until he resigned in 2018. He had joined the party in 2017 and had fought against the then Congress leader and former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh from Patiala during the 2017 Assembly elections, however, he was defeated. 

On Monday, the BJP Parliamentary committee discussed the names of the potential candidates for the Punjab polls 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 Capt Amarinder Singh’s PLC & SAD (Sanyukt), discussed the state elections at the party headquarters in Delhi. 

Meanwhile, as far as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is concerned, the party AAP announced Bhagwant Mann as a candidate for Punjab's Chief Ministerial post in the state. 

Punjab elections 2022

The Election Commission of India on January 8 had announced the dates for the Punjab Assembly elections 2022 which will be held in February to elect 117 members of the 16th Assembly of the State Legislative Assembly.

In the last Assembly elections in 2017, the Indian National Congress bagged 77 out of 117 seats, leaving the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance behind in the third place with 18 seats. AAP was second with 20 seats and became the official opposition in the state. Polling in Punjab is scheduled to be held on February 14 and the counting of votes will take place on March 10.

Image: PTI