Chandigarh, May 12
Fighting incumbency and the Sikh card Congress has played, the SAD-BJP alliance faces a Herculean task in defending eight of the nine Lok Sabha seats it had won in 2004 and where polling is taking place on Wednesday in the fifth and final phase of the long-drawn election.
The last phase will not only decide the political future of former Test cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu and Bollywood star Vinod Khanna, both of BJP, Dr Rattan Singh Ajnala, Charanjit Singh Athwal (Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha), folk singer Hans Raj Hans and Paramjit Kaur Gulshan - all of Shiromani Akali Dal, but also of Manish Tewari, Mohinder Singh Kay Pee, Sukhdev Singh Libra, Ravneet Singh Bittu and Sukhwinder Singh Danny - all from Congress.
The final phase also features two sitting MLAs - Om Parkash Soni (Amritsar) and Partap Singh Bajwa (Gurdaspur) - both from Congress. The political future of former Punjab Governor and a retired Chief of Staff of Western Command, General Chhibber, will also be decided by the electorate today.
Som Parkash, who took premature retirement from the bureaucracy to join the political bandwagon, is locked in a titanic contest with Congress veteran Santosh Chaudhary from Hoshiarpur.
Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi has pinned his hopes on Youth leaders - Ravneet Singh Bittu (Anandpur Sahib) and Sukhwinder Singh Danny (Faridkot) - while Akalis have put their stakes on a folk singer Hans Raj Hans.
Bahujan Samaj Party has pockets of influence in all the nine constituencies. Also trying to keep their political presence alive in the State are Communists - CPI and CPM combined. They have put up Kaushalya Chaman Bhaura from Faridkot. She had lost from Bathinda in the last election. Mahan Singh (CPM) is contesting from Anandpur Sahib.
Among the women candidates in the fray are Santosh Chaudhary (Congress), Paramjit Kaur Gulshan (Akali Dal) and Kaushalya Chaman Bhaura (Communists).
Nav Vikas of Lok Jan Shakti Party and Ritta Rahela Independent, 28 each, are the youngest
contestants for tomorrows’ poll.
How fierce will be the election on Punjab seats can be judged from the number of VIPs, including Prime Minister, Chairperson of UPA, leaders of NDA etc. who visited and campaigned in the state. Every election is tough but political experts feel that this time it is the prestige and political future of several prominent political families, including those of the Badals and Patiala royals besides the family of former chief minister Beant Singh that is at stake.
Among the sitting MPs in the fray are Sukhdev Singh Libra (Congress), Charanjit Singh Athwal (Akali Dal), Dr Rattan Singh Ajnala (Akali Dal), Rana Gurjit Singh (Congress), Navjot Sidhu (BJP), Vinod Khanna (BJP), Paramjit Kaur Gulshan (Akali Dal). Former MPs testing their political strength again include Santosh Chaudhary (Congress) and Gurcharan Singh Galib (Akali Dal).
Three of the sitting MPs,namely Zora Singh (Akali Dal), Avinash Rai Khanna (BJP) and Sharanjit Singh Dhillon (Akali Dal) were denied nomination this time by their respective parties.
Battlelines have been drawn and though Punjab is normally known for peaceful and high percentage of polling, yet tension is running high amidst allegations and counter allegations on various poll related malpractices.
