Bhagwant Mann, AAP's CM candidate, to contest Punjab assembly polls 2022 from Dhuri

Chandigarh: Aam Aadmi Party's chief ministerial face Bhagwant Mann will contest from the Dhuri assembly seat in Sangrur district for the next month's assembly polls in Punjab.

The announcement in this regard was made by the party's senior leader Raghav Chadha in Mohali on Thursday.

Punjab polls | AAP CM candidate Bhagwant Mann to contest from Dhuri, Sangrur district: Raghav Chadha, AAP pic.twitter.com/i3g6shzI3v — ANI (@ANI) January 20, 2022

Mann was declared as the chief ministerial face of the AAP on January 18 by the party's national convenor Arvind Kejriwal. 

The announcement was made after the results of the party's 'Janta Chunegi Apna CM' drive were declared. Bhagwant Mann, a two-time AAP MP from Sangrur, received more than 93 per cent of the votes cast through phone and WhatsApp, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal told reporters.

More than 21 lakh people participated in the vote, AAP said. AAP is the first - so far the only - party to announce a chief ministerial candidate in Punjab. It had avoided doing so in the previous election and this time around had held out until now. 

Forty-eight-year-old Mann, a comedian-turned-politician, is a two-time Lok Sabha MP from the Sangrur parliamentary constituency.

The Dhuri assembly seat is presently represented by Congress MLA Dalvir Singh Goldy. 

Dhuri is a part of the Sangrur parliamentary constituency. Voting for Punjab's 117 Assembly seats is scheduled for February 20. The counting will take place on March 10.