NEW DELHI : The Bharatiya Janata Party is fielding cricket commentator and former MP Navjot Singh Sidhu again in the Amritsar 2 Lok Sabha by-election.

The decision followed Tuesday's Supreme Court order suspending his conviction in a case of road rage death. He resigned the seat after the Punjab and Haryana High Court sentenced him to three-year imprisonment. Even before the BJP central election committee met, party president Rajnath Singh declared that Mr. Sidhu would be the candidate as it had already decided in his favour in the event of a favourable court order.

The decision ended speculation on the possibility of the party fielding its general secretary Arun Jaitley.Mr. Sidhu was happy at the run of events, which have given him yet another chance to enter Parliament. He said his political and legal mentor, Mr. Jaitley made this possible.

Asked how the BJP would defend giving ticket to a man convicted by the High Court, Mr. Jaitley said Mr. Sidhu would now go to the voters. "They must decide. After all, he took a risk when he resigned his seat. He could not have contested had the Supreme Court not suspended his conviction."

Moral posturing

Asked about L.K. Advani, former BJP president, resigning his Lok Sabha seat in 1996 and deciding not to enter Parliament unless he was cleared by court in the hawala scandal, Mr. Jaitley said: "There are different ways of expressing moral posturing."

In the other Lok Sabha by-election in Tehri, caused by the death of Manvendra Shah, the BJP decided to field the son of the erstwhile Tehri scion, Manujendra Shah. There was some discussion on the possibility of accommodating ace shooter Jaspal Rana, but finally the decision was taken in favour of Mr. Shah, who, the party believes, stands a good chance of winning.

As for the two remaining Assembly segments in Punjab — the BJP earlier announced candidates for 21 of the 23 seats it is contesting — the party fielded Tikshan Sood in Hoshiarpur and Anil Joshi in Amritsar North.

For the Uttarakhand Assembly election, the BJP, which earlier named 51 candidates, has now finalised the names for all remaining seats, except Rishikesh.

Congress list

In the Congress camp, Surinder Singla, Finance Minister in the Amarinder Singh Cabinet, is the candidate in the Amritsar 2 Lok Sabha by-election.

The Congress reserved the announcement, awaiting the Supreme Court decision in Mr. Sidhu's case. The Congress candidates for the remaining three Assembly constituencies are: Brahm Mohindra (Samana), Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu (Talwandi Sabo) and Harinder Singh Jassi (Bhatinda). With this, the party has named candidates for all 117 Assembly seats in the February 13 polls.

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