Ticket holders kin filing papers as covering candidates

Our Correspondent

Mandi Ahmedgarh, January 31

The ensuing Assembly elections has many candidates, who file nominations, but don’t contest. The candidature of such a nominee, known as a covering or substitute candidate, lasts only till the date of withdrawal of nominations, after which symbols are allotted to those aspirants, whose files have no discrepancies.

With almost all major political parties practicing the trend of fielding covering candidates, none of the aspirant has risked choosing an outsider for contesting election in case his or her candidature is rejected.

There being no yardstick to discriminate between candidature of the main and covering candidate, all ‘pairs’ include kin. At least seven candidates of major political parties fielded either of their family members as covering candidates.

Unlike any other covering candidate, a substitute for the Raikot INC candidate is none other than the Fatehgarh Sahib MP, Dr Amar Singh. He is father of the main candidate. Similarly, Balwinder Singh Sandhu and Mandeep Kaur Sandhu, both filed nominations as official candidates of the BSP from Raikot. Other pairs of family members include Paramjit Singh Dhillon and Sukhpreet Kaur Dhillon (SAD) from Samrala; Jiwan Singh and Rupinder Kaur (AAP) from Gill; Dr Kanwal Nain Singh Kang and Harpreet Kang (AAP) from Dakha; and Kanwar Narinder Singh and Manroop Kaur (BJP) from Jagraon. —