Election, and exam, candidate

Deepkamal Kaur

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Tribune News Service

Banga, January 8

A week after she appeared in her MA English (third semester) examination, Harjot Kaur is all set to take another test on February 4. She is contesting the Assembly election from Banga on the Aam Aadmi Party ticket.

She, however, feels the effort she put in for her academic test was nothing as compared to her electioneering effort. The constituency is headed for a five-cornered contest. Pitted against Satnam Kainth of the Congress, Dr Sukhwinder Sukhi of SAD, sitting MLA Tarlochan Singh (Independent) and Rajinder Thekedar of the BSP (all above 50 years of age), Harjot is sparing no effort to give them all a tough fight.

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“Being a student, I am habitual of getting up early and toiling for long hours. Even on days I had to appear for an exam at DAV College, I did not miss out on door-to-door campaigning in the evening,” says Harjot, who has already done her MBA (marketing) from Lyallpur Khalsa College, Jalandhar.

“I am pursuing MA as a private student. I would take my notes along while setting out for poll meetings and rallies and read them during the travel time. Thankfully, now I can concentrate on the campaign.”

Harjot, who speaks in Punjabi with a foreign accent due to her schooling in Philippines, says, “I come from Lallian Kalan village in Jalandhar. My father still works as a financier in Philippines and will be here with me after 10 days. My mother and my sister (a class VI student) live in Jalandhar. I got married here three years ago.

My husband owns a readymade garments shop and a palace in Mukandpur near here.”

Supporting a tight bun and circular bindi on the forehead, and carrying a small bag on her shoulder, Harjot says she developed a liking for politics while undergoing coaching for IAS examination in Delhi in 2015. “Being impressed with the work being done by the Delhi CM, I started taking part in AAP activities and was given the ticket in October,” she adds.

Harjot says she now enjoys politics more than her studies. “Politics is a more practical work. I do not have a defined syllabus. I can express myself more freely and experiment more,” she says.