No cakewalk for Inderbir Singh Bolaria this time

Charanjit Singh Teja

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Amritsar, January 29

Two-time MLA from the South constituency Inderbir Singh Bolaria would not have a cakewalk this time as he is finding strong opposition from SAD’s Talbir Singh Gill and Aam Adami Party’s Dr Inder Bir Singh Nijjar. In the last Assembly election, the Congress MLA won with a good margin of 22,658 and got more than 50 per cent votes in the constituency.

In 2017, the SAD candidate Gurpartap Singh Tikka had contested the election and got only 16,596 votes from the constituency. However, there was no wave of the AAP in the Mahja region but the AAP candidate Inderbir Singh Nijjar got 24,923 votes. The SAD had a stronghold in the constituency as leaders such as Manjit Singh Calcutta used to win from this seat. The SAD registered the victory in 1997, 2007, 2012. After the shift of Inderbir Singh Bolaria from Akali dal to congress there was no senior leader in the SAD to contest the constituency.

Talbir Singh Gill, once a close associate of senior SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia and relative of the head of a prominent Sikh dera, got active in the area as constituency in-charge a few years back. Gill managed to get support from the traditional Akali families from the constituency.

Ravinder Singh, a resident of Sultanwind, said, “Noting is clear yet but as compared to the previous candidate from the SAD, Gill is better and able to give a good fight to Bolaria. However, AAP candidate Nijjar is also gaining weight and people are expecting triangle fight”.

Inderbir Singh Bolaria’s family is one of the most influential families in the constituency. His father Raminder Sing Bolaria has been an MLA two times. However, there must be anti-incumbency against him but Bolaria has good management skills to manage the votes.

The Congress rebel and former MLA Harjinder Singh Thekedar also got tickets from Capt Amarinder Singh’s Punjab Lok Congress. He may have some impact on Congress voters.

Sandip Sharma, a resident of the Bagtanwala area, said, “The fight would be interesting on the seat. There is no wave of any candidate. The voters are also mum. Hopefully it would be neck to neck triangle fight”.

Clash of titans

• MLA Inderbir Singh Bolaria will face strong opposition from SAD’s Talbir Singh Gill and AAP’s Dr Inder Bir Singh Nijjar.
• The SAD has a stronghold in the constituency. Late Akali leader and former chief secretary of the SGPC Manjit Singh Calcutta had won from this seat. The SAD registered the victory in 1997, 2007, 2012.
• In 2017, there was no wave of the AAP in the Mahja region but the AAP candidate Inderbir Singh Nijjar got 24,923 votes.