Congress declares Sunil Jakhar as its Gurdaspur bypoll candidate

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, September 20

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday approved the name of Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar as the party candidate for the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha bypoll agreeing to the recommendation of state Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

Jakhar took over as the state chief in May and is widely accepted as the Congress’s best bet in the high-stake by-election necessitated due to the death of BJP’s Vinod Khanna.

Jakhar beat former Gurdaspur MP Partap Singh Bajwa’s wife Charanjit Kaur Bajwa to the nomination though Bajwa was said to be bargaining hard for the seat.

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Winnability weighed in Jakhar’s favour besides larger acceptance among majority of Congress’s seven legislators from Gurdaspur.

The Congress wants to win the seat at all costs and continue its winning spree in Punjab where it recently won a comfortable majority in the state election trouncing the Akali Dal and BJP combine.

Amarinder Singh will campaign hard for the victory of Jakhar who recently lost from Abohar MLA segment in the assembly elections.

Being a Hindu, Jakhar is considered a potential winner in Congress circles. Of 16 Lok Sabha elections, Gurdaspur has returned Hindu candidates to the Lower House nine times and Sikhs seven times.

Gurdaspur has traditionally been a Congress seat except when the BJP used star power and fielded Vinod Khanna from here. Barring Khanna, the only other non-Congress candidate to hold Gurdaspur was YD Sharma in 1977, post the Emergency.