Congress has renominated Ramanjit Singh Sikki as its candidate for the February 13 bypoll for the Khadoor Sahib Assembly seat in Punjab.
The seat had fallen vacant after Sikki, the sitting MLA had resigned over incidents of sacrilege in his constituency.
"Congress President Sonia Gandhi has approved the proposal for the candidature of Ramanjit Singh Sikki, ex-MLA to contest bye-election from 24-Khadoor Sahib Assembly constituency as a party candidate in Punjab," AICC general secretary Shakeel Ahmed said.
Sikki will be pitted against Shiromani Akali Dal candidate Ravinder Singh Bramhapura. Sikki had defeated Ravinder's father and senior Akali leader Ranjit Singh Brahmpura by a margin of over 3,000 votes in the 2012 Assembly polls.
With the announcement of its candidate, Congress has set to rest all speculation that it would not contest the bypolls and would concentrate on the next assembly elections slated early 2017.
AAP has already decided not to field its candidate as it is concentrating on the 2017 Assembly polls in the state.
The last date for filing of nominations is January 27 and after scrutiny on January 28, the last date for withdrawal of nominations is January 30. Counting for the February 13 election will be held on February 16.
