Constituency watch: Garhshankar

by Sanjiv Kumar Bakshi

Touching the hill state of Himachal on one side and Nawanshahr district on the other, Garhshankar constituency is having half of its area in the plains and the remaining part in semi-hilly terrain of Bet area. Both the areas have different kinds of problems and requirements. The segment has given chance to almost every party ranging from the CPI, Congress, BSP, BJP, SAD and AAP. With Garhshankar as the major town, the Assembly segment also includes Mahilpur and 178 villages. Bet area has 37 villages. With five major contenders this time, there would be a multi-cornered contest in Garhshankar. Here are the main candidates from the seat:

Amarpreet Lally

Party: Congress

Age: 38 years

Qualification: BA, PGDCA

Background: A youth leader from Rahul Gandhi’s brigade, he has been in politics since when he was a student. He is a native of Kot Fatuhi village under Chabbewal constituency. He was a Congress ticket aspirant last time also as the Punjab Youth Congress chief then, but could not get it. He is the general secretary of the All-India Youth Congress. An agriculturist by profession, Lally is contesting on the basis of his image among youth.

Priorities: 1. Solve traffic problem with bypass, four-laning of roads

2. To solve drinking water problem

3. To bring industry to provide more job avenues for youth

Jai Kishan Singh Rouri

Party: AAP

Age: 39 years

Qualification: Class XII

Background: Sitting AAP MLA, Jai Kishan Singh Rouri, is in the fray on the Aam Aadmi Party’s ticket once again. An agriculturist by profession, Rouri is the only sitting AAP MLA from entire Doaba from the last Assembly election. He too had joined the rebel group of ex-MLA Sukhpal Khaira in mid-2018, but returned to work for the party in four months.

Priorities: 1. To make kandi canal functional for round-the-year irrigation

2. To get bypass for Garhshankar to resolve traffic problem

3. To help save crops from wild animals in Bet area

Nimisha Mehta

Party: BJP

Age: 39 years

Qualification: MCom

Background: A business woman by profession, Nimisha has been active in political field for long. She had been state-level spokesperson for the Congress and was the aspirant of ticket in 2017. She had then filed nominations as an Independent candidate on being denied ticket but had later withdrawn. She was an aspirant for Congress ticket this time, too, but was refused again. She joined BJP on the same day with an assurance to contest from here.

Priorities: 1. To solve problems of drinking and irrigation water

2. Four-laning of Garhshankar to Anandpur Sahib road.

3. To bring industrial package

Dr Jung Bahadur Singh Rai

Party: SSM

Age: 76 years

Qualification: MBBS

Background: Dr Jung Bahadur Singh Rai has been an active social worker and he is a physician by profession. He runs a hospital and a nursing college in the area. He has been an SGPC member for long (1996) and was very active in Akali politics. He was an aspirant of the Shiromani Akali Dal ticket this time but was denied.

Priorities: 1. To solve the traffic problem of Garhshnkar town

2. To get sewerage system in Garhshankar completed, make it fully functional

3. To get a polytechnic, govt college for the area and Naina Devi highway completed

Surinder S Bhullewal Rathan

Party: SAD

Age: 67 years

Qualification: Class V

Background: Surinder Singh, better known with the name of his village Bhullewal Rathan, had been an MLA from Garhshankar in 2012 but faced defeat in 2017. A businessman and agriculturist by profession, Rathan has been the district president of SAD for around two decades and is considered a close aide of Badals. He also heads an education trust running a college in the area.

Priorities: 1. To get Minar-e-Begumpura and Mahilpur international football stadium

2. To improve health services, education in area

3. To get Nawanshahr-Garhshankar -Hoshiarpur-Dasuya four-laned