Cricketer Harbhajan Singh on Thursday said he had no intention of joining politics, following media reports that he would contest the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections on a Congress ticket. In a post on Twitter, Singh said he was not joining a political party “any time soon” and requested people to “stop spreading rumours”.

The cricketer also said that he had been appointed the brand ambassador for the Election Commission by its Jalandhar office, The Tribune reported. He added that he had given a written assurance to the commission that he would not align himself with any political party for the Assembly polls.

On November 28, former Bharatiya Janata Party leader Navjot Kaur Sidhu joined the Congress. Sidhu had also indicated that her husband, former cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu, was likely to join the party, as well. On December 15, the party had released a list of 61 candidates for the upcoming elections, including state party chief Amarinder Singh and former Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal.