The Gurdaspur test

By fielding a candidate as tall as Sunil Jakhar, the Congress has given the Gurdaspur byelection more importance than it otherwise merited. One seat will not make all that difference in a Lok Sabha towards the end of its term. The idea of electing an MP just for a year and a half may not have enthused Gurdaspur voters much but the presence of Congress/AAP heavyweights for filing nominations and the BJP fielding a businessman with the blessings of Baba Ramdev have put some excitement into the byelection. A victory would not mean much for Jakhar or for the Congress. Jakhar is a veteran pitted against novices. It is a Congress government in Punjab and ruling parties are not supposed to lose.

But much more is at stake for Sunil Jakhar — his stature as a Congress leader, having already lost Abhor to a first-timer at a time when the Congress was swept to power in Punjab. Either way, the Gurdaspur verdict will have a bearing on the Congress government in Punjab. Not just Jakhar, the Captain too is on test. Given the lobbying done for securing the party nomination, it is a faction-ridden Congress facing the electorate. In a bid to show Partap Bajwa his place, Capt Amarinder Singh has invested heavily in Gurdaspur. For the BJP it would be a vote on the economy and the shakeup the GST has caused. Small traders and businessmen are not happy about the disruption coming soon after demonetisation. A BJP victory would not be much cause for celebration but a defeat would give its rivals a boost for the 2019 battle. A moneybag has several advantages over his opponents but the way Swaran Singh Salaria has run his medical college does not speak much of his business or management skills.

The AAP and its candidate, Maj-Gen Suresh Khajuria (retd), carry no past baggage. It will be the first election fought by AAP’s local leaders without help from their Delhi-based poll strategists. The choice of candidates shows that caste has played a role. In this scenario the rural Sikh voters may influence the verdict considerably, if not decide it.