Shiromani Akali Dal's Chandigarh seat candidate quits party

The Shiromani Akali Dal's Chandigarh candidate Hardeep Singh has opted out of the electoral contest and quit the party, dealing a blow to the Sukhbir Singh Badal-led outfit.

Singh ascribed his decision to the party's "indifferent" attitude towards Chandigarh.

The SAD had fielded Singh, who is a municipal councillor from Butrela in the Chandigarh municipal corporation.

"It is due to the party's 'berukhi' (indifferent attitude) towards Chandigarh and us," Singh said.

"I was campaigning. I had said to the party president that he should stand by him. But we could not get support from him," he further said.

Along with him, the party's several office bearers also left the party.

The SAD had fielded the candidate from the Chandigarh parliamentary constituency for the first time.

From the Chandigarh parliamentary seat, the BJP has fielded Sanjay Tandon while the Congress candidate is Manish Tewari.