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Former Union Minister Surendrajeet Singh Ahluwalia on Wednesday filed his nomination as the BJP candidate for West Bengal's Asansol Lok Sabha constituency.
Ahluwalia's name was among the nine in the tenth Lok Sabha candidates list announced by the BJP. Earlier, the party had fielded Pawan Singh from Asansol, but he subsequently withdrew his candidature without specifying any reason and is set to contest the polls as an independent candidate from Bihar's Karakat. Ahluwalia, the sitting MP from Burdwan-Durgapur constituency will take on Trinamool Congress (TMC) heavyweight Satrughan Sinha. Ahluwalia won the 2019 election with a margin of 2,439 votes, securing 5,98,376 votes, defeating Mamtaz Sanghamita of the TMC, who got 5,95,937 votes. Ahluwalia served as Minister of State for Urban Affairs and Employment (Department of Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation) and Parliamentary Affairs in the P V Narasimha Rao cabinet from September 15, 1995, to May 16, 1996. He was also deputy opposition leader in the Rajya Sabha from June 2010 to May 2012. From 1986 to 2012, he was a Rajya Sabha MP representing Bihar and Jharkhand. In 1999, he joined the BJP, and in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, he won from the Darjeeling constituency with the active support of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha. Earlier the party had named Bhojpuri singer Pawan Singh from the Asansol Lok Sabha seat whose candidature, later faced massive criticism from the TMC. The ruling party alleged that many of his songs were derogatory towards women and Pawan Singh announced his withdrawal from the electoral race. Notably, polling in the 42 parliamentary constituencies in West Bengal will be held across all seven phases: April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25, and June 1. Asansol will go to the polls on May 13. The counting of votes will take place on June 4. (ANI)
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