SAD to contest 21 assembly seats in UP elections
Former Uttar Pradesh chief secretary Rai Singh will be the party's president in the poll-bound state.
Chandigarh: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Sunday announced its first list of candidates for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections to be held early next year.
The SAD announced the name of 21 candidates.
"This is the first list of SAD candidates. Another list may be issued soon," party MPs Prem Singh Chandumajra and Balwinder Singh Bhunder said in Chandigarh.
"The SAD will seek an alliance with the BJP in Uttar Pradesh on the Punjab pattern," they said.
"If it does not fructify, the party will contest polls alone as it has the right to expand its base in the state which has 1.5 crore Punjabis," Chandumajra said.
Former Uttar Pradesh chief secretary Rai Singh will be the party's president in the poll-bound state, while his wife Raj Rai Singh, who was finance minister in BJP-BSP government, will be the party's candidate from Pilibhit.
The SAD has also roped in Ram Hirde, president of Ravi Dass Sabha in Uttar Pradesh.
The Akalis' have chosen to field candidates from constituencies having a considerable Sikh and Punjabi population, including Pilibhit, Ghaziabad, Gola, Bilaspur (Rampur) and Rae Bareli.