Chandigarh, Aug 4: The Aam Aadmi Party has decided to field lawyers, doctors, sportsmen and professionals in the upcoming Punjab Assembly polls, with the list of candidates for 19 seats announced this afternoon packed with representatives from different professions.

Although the party is yet to announce a chief ministerial candidate, it has decided to pitch Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann, facing a parliamentary committee probe for shooting a video of the Parliament and posting it on a social networking site, as the face of the campaign.

Mann announced the list of candidates along with the party's Punjab-in-charge Sanjay Singh and head of the women's unit Baljinder Kaur.

Among the nominees are H.S. Phoolka, a senior lawyer who had extensively campaigned for justice for the 1984 riot victims, and Himmat Singh Shergill, head of the party's legal cell. Phoolka had contested on an AAP ticket from the Ludhiana Lok Sabha seat in the 2014 general elections but lost. Phoolka has been given the ticket from Dakha while Shergill is the nominee from Mohali.

According to sources, fielding candidates like Phoolka and Shergill in key constituencies like Dakha and Mohali signalled the seriousness with which AAP is looking at the polls this time.

Dakha is represented by prominent Akali leader Manpreet Singh Ayali, while Mohali has a Congress MLA in Balbir Singh Sidhu.

The AAP's Punjab youth wing chief, Harjot Singh Bains, will take on state minister Sharanjit Singh Dhillon for the Sahnewal seat. Deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal will face the deputy chief of the youth wing, Samarbir Singh Sidhu.

"Tickets have been given to people who have a clean image. The contribution of those who have helped build the party in Punjab has also been recognised," said Mann.

In Bathinda (Rural) another lawyer, 27-year old Rupinder Kaur, has been fielded. The Amritsar (South) AAP nominee is a physician, Inderbir Singh Nijjer.

Former Bahujan Samaj Party MP Mohan Singh Phallianwala and another leader from the backward classes, Santokh Singh Salana, have also been given the tickets.

The distribution of tickets for the AAP has not been without dissent. The head of the party's finance committee, Hardip Singh Kingra, resigned from the party on being denied a ticket. According to sources, he was among the five hopefuls from the Faridkot Assembly seat.

In the 13 Lok Sabha seats from the state, the AAP had put up a strong performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, overriding the Narendra Modi wave to win four seats - the same number as the Akalis.

Elections to the 117-seat Punjab Assembly are scheduled for early 2017.