Illegal mining, lack of infra key issues
Rajmeet Singh
Chandigarh, May 11
After being delineated from Ropar in 2008, the Anandpur Sahib Lok Sabha seat has been a Congress citadel.
The unique demographic profile of the area has seen the Congress winning two of the three Lok Sabha elections and the Shriomani Akal Dal (SAD) one. Amid BSP’s stronghold pockets, the predominantly backward constituency has witnessed a direct contest between the Congress and the SAD. However, the political scape changed with AAP slowly making inroads and winning seven of the nine seats in the 2022 Assembly elections. Of the remaining two, one went to the BSP and the other to the SAD.
Considered a safe seat by the Congress, the grand old party has been fielding an outsider from the constituency and still managed to win the seat twice in the three elections held in 2009, 2014 and 2019. Ravneet Bittu was elected in 2009 and Manish Tewari in 2019. In 2014, senior Congress leader Ambika Soni lost to Prem Singh Chandumajra of the SAD. This time again, the Congress has brought in its senior Hindu leader and former Sangrur MP Vijay Inder Singla. However, opposition parties are raking up the issue of local versus outsider candidate.
With the SAD and the BJP parting ways and AAP having a formidable electoral presence, the constituency is all set to witness a multi-cornered contest. With the BJP fielding the senior vice-president of its state unit, Subhash Sharma; the SAD its seasoned leader and former MP Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra; the BSP its state unit chief Jasvir Singh Garhi and AAP its senior leader Malwinder Singh Kang, it will an interesting political bout to watch.
The constituency that boasts of forest areas, diverse flora and fauna, water bodies and wetlands has been witnessing a massive environmental degradation due to illegal sand mining. Two bridges at Algran and Agampur have suffered damage due to illegal mining. Despite a change in government, the issue of illegal mining in Nangal, Anandpur Sahib and Chamkaur Sahib remains unaddressed. Locals lament that the nature of land and easy availability of stone and gravel in the area has become a bane for them as stone crushing units have come up, damaging roads and other infrastructure. The flooding in the Swan river is another headache for locals. With small landholdings, locals are depending on neighbouring areas of Himachal.
Malwinder Singh Kang (AAP)
Kang started off as a student leader with two terms as president of the Panjab University Students Council (2002-03). After getting a degree in law, Kang joined the BJP and was appointed its state general secretary. However, he quit the saffron party in October 2020 in protest against the farm laws and switched to AAP.
Vijay Inder Singla (Congress)
Singla remained a Cabinet minister in the previous Congress government. A former Sangrur MP, Singla lost the Assembly poll from Sangrur to Bhagwant Mann in 2017. In 2022, he lost to Narinder Kaur Bharaj of AAP. Recently, Singla has been given a key profile in AICC, as secretary to the AICC treasurer.
Prem Singh Chandumajra (SAD)
Chandumajra became a member of the Vidhan Sabha in 1985. He was elected to the 11th Lok Sabha in 1996 and to the 12th Lok Sabha in 1998. He contested the Patiala Lok Sabha seat in 2004 on the ticket of the Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal. Later, he became chief of the SAD (Longowal), which was merged into the SAD led by Parkash Singh Badal in 2007. He was elected in the 2014 Lok Sabha poll from Anandpur Sahib on SAD ticket.
Jasvir Singh Garhi (BSP)
Garhi is BSP’s Punjab unit president. He was fielded by the BSP from the Phagwara Assembly constituency in the 2022 poll and finished third. He is credited with party’s lone victory from Nawanshahr in the 2022 Assembly elections after a gap of 25 years. He banks on being the only local candidate from Anandpur Sahib.
Subhash Sharma (BJP)
A former full-timer with the ABVP, Subhash Sharma has remained the secretary, general secretary and now vice-president of the state BJP unit. He has remained a nominated senator of the Panjab University Senate.
