Government-backed Parvinder Kaur Banga NRI Sabha chief

Jalandhar, January 5

A strong government backing for the first-timer Parvinder Kaur Banga made the NRI Sabha chief’s elections that were held today completely one-sided.

Of the total 168 votes polled, she turned out to be a winner with 147 votes cast in her favour. Her opponent and former president of the sabha Jasvir Gill could poll only 12 votes. Seven votes were declared invalid. The third candidate Kamaljit Hayre had left the contest just a day ago.

Polling which started at 9 am continued till 5 pm amid allegations by Gill and his supporters that the government had rigged the election to favour Banga. They sat on a dharna in front of the gates of the sabha but got up after the police threatened them of lodging an FIR against them.

“While there are 24,000 members in the sabha, only 168 votes could be polled because of restrictions imposed by the administration. Several NRIs, who could not renew their ID cards, were turned back. Many NRIs, who did not bring along their passports, were also not allowed to cast votes. Voters from other districts, including Tarn Taran, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur and Nawanshahr, were not allowed to cast their votes. This way, they turned out 250 supporters of mine,” said Gill, who had lost to Kirpal Singh Sahota in the 2020 poll also. He said some NRIs had been issued fake ID cards and were allowed to vote even as he raked up the issue before the Returning Officer.

Just as the poll result was announced, NRI Affairs Minister Kuldeep Dhaliwal, Jalandhar MP Sushil Rinku, AAP MLA Inderjit Kaur and other party leaders assembled at the NRI Sabha to congratulate Banga. Banga, who hails from Hoshiarpur, said she would work hard to develop a good and working atmosphere in the NRI Sabha and build faith among the NRIs regarding the working of the government to encourage more investments.