AAP’s Gurmail, Simranjit Mann of SAD(A) file papers
CM Bhagwant Mann says Gurmail Singh’s candidature shows that how AAP gives opportunities to its common volunteers
SANGRUR: Aam Aadmi Party candidate Gurmail Singh and Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) president Simranjit Singh Mann filed their nomination papers for the June 23 Sangrur Lok Sabha by-elections on Saturday.
Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann accompanied his confidant, Gurmail Singh, 38, as he submitted his papers before the returning officer.
Gurmail, who joined the AAP in 2013, is also the sarpanch of Gharachon village and in-charge of the AAP’s Sangrur district unit. Ever since Mann became chief minister in March, Gurmail has been running the show from the CM’s residence. He works in close coordination with Mann’s sister Manpreet Kaur.
A postgraduate in math, Gurmail studied MBA but chose to become a school teacher who gave private tuitions till 2018. He became the circle president of Bhawanigarh block in 2015 and was later elected as the Gharachon sarpanch in 2018. The party elevated him as the Sangrur district unit chief in 2021.
The Sangrur seat fell vacant after Mann quit Parliament following his win from the Dhuri constituency in the assembly elections and took charge as the CM after leading the AAP to an unprecedented victory in the February assembly elections.
After filing of Gurmail’s nomination papers, the CM said: “The people of Sangrur had selected me as their representative for this Parliament segment twice. Now, the AAP has fielded Gurmail as our candidate, as it is the only party that gives a chance to its common volunteers to contest elections.”
In the affidavit filed with his papers, Gurmail has declared total assets worth ₹1.31 crore, including ₹9.16 lakh moveable and ₹1.22 crore immovable. He has declared his wife’s assets as ₹5.22 lakh
After meeting Sukhbir, Simranjit goes own way
Hours after Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal met and urged him to support the joint candidate from among families of Sikh prisoners, SAD (Amritsar) chief Simranjit Singh Mann, 77, chose to go his own way and file his nomination.
On Friday night, Sukhbir met him in Sangrur in the presence of senior Akali leaders Balwinder Singh Bhunder and Prem Singh Chandumajra besides Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Harjinder Singh Dhami.
Reacting on the meeting with Sukhbir, Simranjit Singh Mann said: “They had come to mock me. They asked me to step back and support a joint candidate from the families of Sikh prisoners. I told them that first he (Sukhbir) should appoint a family member of a Sikh prisoner as the chief of his party and president of the SGPC.”
Simranjit Singh Mann has declared ₹8.37-crore assets, including ₹35.38 moveable and ₹8.02 immovable. His wife’s assets stand at ₹4.88 crore.