Tribune News Service
Ropar, December 26

Sitting Aam Aadmi Party MLA Amarjit Singh Sandoa has lost the party ticket for the upcoming Assembly elections as the party has put its bet on Ropar advocate and RTI activist Dinesh Chadha (37) this time.

With this, the party has declared its two candidates both first-timers and also advocates from two of the three assembly segments in the district.

On Friday, the AAP had declared Harjot Singh Bains its candidate from Anandpur Sahib.

Last time, Dr Sanjiv Gautam was AAP candidate from here who stood third polling 30,304 votes while Congress candidate Rana KP Singh wrested the seat from the BJP getting 60,800 votes.

The runner-up BJP which had replaced sitting MLA Madan Mohan Mittal with Dr Parminder Sharma could get a mere 36,919 votes.

Sandoa, a taxi driver in Delhi, was fielded by AAP from his native place Ropar in the 2017 Assembly elections. He won by a margin of 23,707 votes, defeating Congress youth leader Brinder Singh Dhillon and SAD stalwart and then Education Minister Daljit Singh Cheema.

His tenure, however, remained mired with controversies when he was attacked by mining mafia and the accused levelled allegation of extortion against him.

A woman also levelled allegations of “attempt to molestation” against him.

Facing these allegations, Sandoa switched to the Congress on the eve of Parliamentary elections in 2019 only to return in December last year.

Reacting to the party’s decision to deny him a ticket, Sandoa levelled serious allegations against AAP’s co-in-charge of Punjab affairs Raghav Chadha and party candidate Dinesh Chadha.

He said party supremo Arvind Kejriwal had already told him that party would field someone else from Ropar and he was with the party’s decision in this regard. 

Alleging that Dinesh Chadha misused his activities as RTI activist, Sandoa said he had informed Raghav Chadha about the suspicious activities of Dinesh Chadha and the former even promised him that Dinesh would not be fielded as party candidate.

Dinesh Chadha, however, said there was no substance in such allegations. He was ready to reply if someone comes out with specific allegations with substantial evidence.