Assembly Poll 2022: It’s SAD vs Congress in Doaba likely

Deepkamal Kaur

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Jalandhar, March 9

Even as there is much hullabaloo over Aam Aadmi Party getting a majority in the Punjab Assembly results to be declared tomorrow, Doaba region is expected to see a fight between Congress and SAD candidates.

In Doaba, which is dominated by the Dalit community, it remains to be seen as to which factor worked more – SAD’s strategy to combine with BSP which has a huge Dalit votebank or the Congress’ plank to have Dalit leader Charanjit S Channi as the CM face

Most political observers in the region have been of the opinion that the AAP, which got only two seats from Doaba in 2017 could at the most get four to five seats from the region

Most political observers in the region have been of the opinion that the AAP, which got only two seats from Doaba in 2017 – Bholath and Garhshankar, could at the most get four to five seats from the region. Except for few seats like Sham Chaurasi, Phagwara, Nawanshahr, and Nakodar, the acceptance of AAP candidates largely remained on lower side. It would be a big surprise if AAP candidates emerge winners from other seats.

In Doaba, which is dominated by the Dalit community, it remains to be seen as to which factor worked more – SAD’s strategy to combine with BSP which has a huge Dalit votebank or the Congress’ plank to have Dalit leader Charanjit S Channi as the CM face.

In 2017 when Akali Dal was passing through a rough weather owing to the sacrilege incidents and killing of two Sikh youth during related protests, the party had managed to win five out of 23 seats in Doaba. The party is expecting to improve its tally in the region significantly this time with even is ally hoping to win a few seats. If BSP’s state president Jasvir S Garhi is contesting from Phagwara, its general secretary Nachhatar Pal is in fray from party’s stronghold in Nawanshahr.

The Congress graph, on the other hand, is likely to see a fall from its 2017 tally of 15. Even as Channi factor is expected to have surely worked, the open infighting within party and contest by two main rebels from Sultanpur Lodhi (Rana Inder Partap Singh) and Nawanshahr (Angad Singh Saini) would have negated the impact to some extent. Pargat Singh has already been stating, “We will be able to say that Channi factor worked only if the party performs well on reserved seats.”

It will also be interesting to watch how the Congress MLAs who had stood defiant against Rana Gurjeet Singh and had alleged his interference perform this time. These include Navtej Cheema from Sultanpur Lodhi, Sukhpal Khaira from Bholath, BS Dhaliwal from Phagwara and Bawa Henry from Jalandhar North.

Other than the prestige of Rana family from Kapurthala, the stakes are high even for Chaudhary and Henry families from Jalandhar and Saini family from Nawanshahr. Jalandhar MP Chaudhary Santokh Singh’s son Vikramjit Chaudhary is contesting from Phillaur. This is his second election as he had lost in 2017 during the previous tenure of MPship of his father.

How region fared in 2017

Total seats 23

Congress: 15 (Jalandhar Central, North, West (SC), Cantonment, Kartarpur (SC), Nawanshahr, Balachaur, Kapurthala, Sultanpur Lodhi, Hoshiarpur, Sham Churasi (SC), Chabbewal (SC), Dasuya, Urmar, Mukerian)

SAD: 5 (Banga (SC), Adampur (SC), Phillaur (SC), Nakodar, Shahkot)

AAP: 2 (Bholath, Garhshankar)

BJP: 1 (Phagwara (SC)

Dist stats

Total candidates 94

Assembly seats 9

Total voters 16,67,217

Votes polled 11,16,245

Poll percentage 66.95%