Amritsar: Independents add colour and spice to electoral battles

Neeraj Bagga

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Amritsar, April 10

Independents enter the fray each time elections are announced. Big parties vie for star candidates to draw the attention of voters. Here are some independent candidates who have been contesting elections for long. Hence, they have become easily recognisable yet their popularity does not get translated into votes.

BK Sharma and Sham Lal Gandhi have been contesting nearly all elections for the past two decades. This time too, they are raring to jump into the poll arena.

BK Sharma, who runs a successful eating joint, said he would contest for the ninth time this year. He has already fought three Lok Sabha and an equal number of assembly elections besides the MC elections twice. He had garnered over 3,000 votes in the assembly election held over two and half years ago. He is a famous social worker as he cremated over 800 unclaimed dead bodies and distributing free of cost vegetables every Saturday and Tuesday. He also contributed money in over 700 marriages.

Leaders from established parties never come in public after winning an election, he said while expressing his anger against leaders who he said were full of arrogance. Big parties and their star candidates have failed to understand the problems of common man. Accessibility always remains a big concern for voters. Voters who mostly are from an ordinary background cannot even easily meet a first generation leader, leave aside senior and star leaders, Sharma asked.

Sham Lal Gandhi is likely to contest for the seventh time as he had first contested in the 2009 General Election. According to him, the time has come for voters to take Independent candidates more seriously. They should not rest their hope on established candidates of big political parties, who behave no less than feudal lords after gaining power, he said. Over the years, voters have learnt that leaders vanish once the elections are over. He had appeared in the 2012 assembly poll, Municipal Corporation elections in 2012 and then contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections as well.