Chandigarh: Nine out of the 13 outgoing members of the Lok Sabha from Punjab are seeking re-election this time while others have either been dropped or opted out themselves.

Congress, with two members in the outgoing Lok Sabha, has decided to field both its outgoing members Preneet Kaur and Rana Gurjit while the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has dropped its three MPs-party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, Zora Singh Mann and Sharanjit Singh Dhillon.

While Sukhbir has shifted to state politics and is currently deputy chief minister, the other two have been dropped by the SAD to beat anti-incumbency, party sources said here.

SAD intended to drop Sukhdev Singh Libra too but he shifted his loyalties to the Congress on the poll eve and secured its ticket.

The BJP too has dropped Avinash Rai Khanna, who represented Hoshiarpur in the 14th Lok Sabha.

While Rana Gurjit, who represented Jalandhar in the outgoing Lok Sabha was accommodated by the Congress in general constituency Khadoor Sahib after the delimitation, Khanna whose constituency Hoshiarpur too was reserved was not lucky enough to get the BJP nomination for any other seat.