Mohali, May 16 -- The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday released its first list of 42 candidates for the upcoming Mohali Municipal Corporation (MC) elections in Punjab. The remaining eight candidates are being finalised, leaders said. The ruling party has fielded 19 women. The list includes five scheduled caste candidates and two from backward class. Former Mohali mayor and AAP MLA Kulwant Singh said the party has largely banked on experienced faces. "More than 90% of our candidates are old-timers. Only one or two comprise new faces. Twenty of the 42 declared candidates filed their nomination papers today. The remaining eight candidates are also finalised," he said. One of the new faces is ward 39 candidate Sharanjeet Kaur, who switched over from the BJP. Among other prominent nominees are Sunny Singh Ahluwalia, RP Sharma, Gurmit Kaur, Gurmukh Singh Sohal, Harpal Singh Channa, Harbinder Singh, Phoolraj Singh, Ramanpreet Kaur, Sarabjeet Singh Samana and Karamjit Kaur, many of whom are former councillors or known party figures. The party has also fielded a couple - Gurmit Kaur from ward 3 and Harbinder Singh from ward 4. No one from the Congress, which has announced 49 candidates including 25 women, filed nomination papers on Friday as the party has yet to finalise its nominee for ward number 28. The party has replaced its ward 22 candidate Basant Singh with Amit Jain who recently switched over from AAP. Senior Congress leader and former deputy mayor Kuljit Singh Bedi said the decision was taken with Basant Singh's consent. Around 78% nominees are first-time contestants. Eleven are known faces, including Raj Rani Jain, Jaspreet Kaur, Kamalpreet Singh Bunny, Taranjeet Kaur Gill, Namrata Dhillon, Rupinder Kaur, Harjeet Singh Baidwan, Baljit Kaur, Narpinder Singh Rangi, Jatinder Kaur and Manjit Kaur. The party has fielded six from scheduled caste and two from backward class. Among the contestants are Raj Rani Jain (ward 21) and her son Gaurav Jain (ward 20) in the fray. Raj Rani is the wife of former senior deputy mayor Rishabh Jain, a senior Congress leader who passed away last year due to liver cancer. Jaspreet Kaur of Phase 2, contesting from ward 3, said civic concerns would shape her campaign. Forty candidates, including 20 each from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and AAP, filed nomination papers for the Mohali MC on Friday. Till Friday evening, 134 nomination papers had been filed across various urban local bodies in the district. Deputy commissioner-cum-district election officer Komal Mittal said 53 candidates filed papers for the Zirakpur Municipal Council. The Kurali council received 19 nomination papers, Banur saw 13, Derabassi and Lalru four each, and Naya Gaon Nagar Council saw one nomination paper being filed. Mittal said May 16 will be the final day for filing nomination papers. The SAD has already announced 37 candidates, largely opting for new faces. BJP district president Sanjeev Vashisht accused the police of harassing party candidates and attempting to prevent them from filing papers. A video of his heated exchange with police officials surfaced on social media. Vashisht alleged that BJP candidates, such as Jaswinder Kaka (ward 4) from Phase 1, were repeatedly called to police stations before filing nomination papers. However, Mohali (City 1) DSP Gurcharan Singh said it was a routine call to check for untoward situations. The party has already announced 42 candidates....