Bathinda: Shiromani Akali Dal’s Kulwant Singh decided at the last minute to go by the party decision of pulling out of the assembly byelections. He was about to file nomination papers from Barnala, in front of a large number of party workers assembled at the election office in anticipation, when they asked him to heed the party’s call.
Party’s leadership had messaged Kulwant in the middle of an election meeting to convince him not to contest even as an independent candidate. Even as SAD has dropped out of all four byelection races, Kulwant Singh, son of two-time legislator late Malkit Singh Keetu, had almost made up his mind to contest from Barnala as an independent and had called his supporters to his office on Friday morning for the nomination march.
Meanwhile, former MP Simranjit Singh Mann’ grandson Gobind Singh filed his nomination from Barnala as a nominee of grandfather’s SAD (Amritsar).