Poll 2022: Multi-cornered, close contest on the cards in Jalandhar district

A month ahead of elections, Tribune reporter Deepkamal Kaur presents a seat-wise political scenario from 9 Jalandhar constituencies

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 11

With just a month left for the Assembly poll, the political activity has stepped up. Jalandhar, which gave a mixed result last time with five of the nine seats going to Congress and four to SAD, does not present a clear picture so far.

All four urban seats (Jalandhar Central, Cantt, North and West) had last time gone with the Congress. From among the rural seats, the Congress got Kartarpur only and the remaining Adampur, Phillaur, Nakodar and Shahkot went to the Akali Dal. Since Shahkot MLA Ajit S Kohar passed away soon after, a bypoll added another seat in the Congress’ favour and its tally touched six.

Since the contest this time will be multi-cornered with SAD partying ways with BJP and Sanyukt Samaj Morcha also set to enter the poll fray, the political scenario is set to go for a complete toss. With BSP forming an alliance with the SAD and the Congress choosing to go for Dalit CM in the last leg of its tenure, the huge SC vote bank will be the major deciding factor. Jalandhar has four of nine reserved seats – Adampur, Phillaur, Kartarpur and Jalandhar West, two each going with SAD and Congress last time.

The Aam Aadmi Party, which till the last two months was not in the reckoning, seems to have gained ground. An ugly fight for tickets outside the Punjab Press Club office here in a way showed the desperation in the candidates to get the party ticket.

The BJP has so far not projected any good face from the rural seats and intends to make arrangements by roping in candidates from other parties, especially the Congress. Since the Congress intends to make good, solid changes, all those in fray who would not get seat at the last minute have kept their position reserved in the BJP or its ally Punjab Lok Congress.

1. JALANDHAR CANTT: Currently represented by Congress leader Pargat Singh, this seat has traditionally been with the Congress as the SAD has won it only twice in 2007 and 2012. A hockey Olympian and a bureaucrat Pargat, who remained quite sidelined till the 4.5 years of tenure of Capt Amarinder Singh, became all powerful as he got the Cabinet berth with four portfolios — education, higher education, NRIs and sports. The seat has seen everyone becoming a turncoat for better prospects. If Pargat had switched from the SAD to Congress, Akalis chose to rope in Jagbir Brar back into the fold after his stint with the PPP and Congress. SAD ex-MLA Sarabjit Makkar also recently moved to the BJP and is seeking ticket from the party. Besides Makkar, other BJP leaders who are in fray include Amit Taneja, Amarjit Amri, Monty Sehgal and Dewan Amit Arora. Like Congress, the AAP too has fielded Olympian Surinder S Sodhi.

2. JALANDHAR WEST: Congress councillor-turned-MLA Sushil Rinku has been managing a good hold from this reserved seat. So much so that when ex-party minister MS Kaypee chose to start activity from here to reclaim his old seat, he forced him to not look back again. From BJP side, Mahinder Bhagat is seeking ticket again claiming to have a strong backing of the Bhagat community here. The family of Chairman of SC Commission Vijay Sampla too has been keeping an eye on this seat, keeping their options of Phagwara and Sham Churasi also open. Not hopeful of getting ticket from the seat, BJP leader Sheetal Angural moved to the AAP and got the ticket despite a lot of opposition. Darshan Bhagat, an ex-councillor who contested previously for AAP, today moved back to the BJP further strengthening the Bhagat community in favour of the party. The SAD-BSP alliance chose to pick a relatively weak candidate Anil Minia, who recently left the job of LIC development officer and is a resident of Basti Danishmandan here.

3. JALANDHAR NORTH: Transporter and sitting Congress MLA Bawa Henry is quite likely to get ticket this year again for he had won from the seat with a huge margin of nearly 70K votes. Henry, however faced a major dent as his opponent from within the party Dinesh Dhall moved to the AAP last week and was announced the candidate. The BJP is likely to go with ex-CPS KD Bhandari even as district president Sushil Sharma, too, is a claimant from here. Falling in the BSP kitty, the alliance chose to go with Kuldeep Singh Lubana, who has been previously with Akali Dal. His wife is still an SAD councillor with the Municipal Corporation.

4. JALANDHAR CENTRAL: The Congress seems a divided house in the Jalandhar Central seat with some favouring the sitting Jalandhar Central MLA Rajinder Beri and others favouring Mayor Jagdish Raja from the seat. Beri is facing a stiffer contest as there are two more claimants including District Mahila Congress chief and councillor Jasleen Sethi and Chairman PUNSUP Tajinder Bittu. As for the BJP, the seat is likely to go to ex-minister Manoranjan Kalia even as ex-Mayor Rakesh Rathour is also learnt to be a claimant from here. The SAD has chosen to given the ticket from this general seat to Valmiki leader Chandan Grewal, who is also president of the Safai Mazdoor Union.

5. NAKODAR: With a Congress candidate yet to be announced from Nakodar seat, the incumbent Akali MLA Gurpartap Wadala is comfortably seated as of date. There remains a huge clamour for the seat with IMA vice-president Dr Navjot Dahiya, grandson of Umrao Singh Renie Singh and truck union leader Happy Sandhu in race. Ex-minister Amarjit Samra, too, has not clarified yet if he would like to re-contest. The Congress had been on #3 in the 2017 polls as Jagbir Brar had been unwillingly shifted here. There also remains a buzz that Pargat could move here at the last minute. There also has been buzz over cricket Harbhajan Singh being given ticket from here but there now seems to be silence on the issue. The AAP has picked a strong woman Jat face and sarpanch Inderjit Kaur Mann.

6. SHAHKOT: It will be a re-contest between Kohar family and sitting MLA Hardev S Laddi Sherowalia for the third time. SAD has relied on ex-minister Ajit Singh Kohar’s grandson Bachitar Singh Kohar while the Congress will certainly go again with Laddi. Ajit Kohar had defeated Laddi in 2017 but in repoll next year, Laddi defeated Kohar’s son Naib S Kohar despite strong allegations against Laddi over illegal sand mining issues. The AAP has retained its only candidate from this seat and Rattan S Kakkar Kalan. The BJP has so far not opened its cards from this seat.

7. ADAMPUR: A reserved seat, it is being represented by Akali leader Pawan Tinu for the past two terms and the party has obviously depended on him again. Ever since Punjab CM Charanjit S Channi addressed a rally here and requested the people to adopt him, there has been a buzz that he could contest from here if not his relative and ex-minister MS Kaypee. Being the first Dalit CM, Channi faces a daunting task to win back more SC seats from the Dalit hub Doaba and many in the party feel that a move like this could help the party make a huge swing. As far as the BJP is concerned, the party is likely to go with a leader expected to join from the Congress.

8. KARTARPUR: Kartarpur SC seat may see a neck and neck fight with the BSP and the AAP putting up a strong bet from here. The BSP-SAD alliance has fielded advocate Balwinder Singh, who in the 2019 Parliamentary polls, has bagged over 2 lakh votes for the party from Jalandhar seat. The AAP has fielded retired PPS officer Balkar Singh, who for a long time has remained posted in Kartarpur area and has strong connections. The seat, however, is currently represented by Congress MLA Chaudhary Surinder Singh, who is the son of stalwart leader Chaudhary Jagjit Singh. The BJP remains in dark from this rural seat.

9. PHILLAUR: A reserved seat, Baldev Khaira of SAD is the sitting MLA from here. His biggest advantage is that while he himself manages the SC votebank, his in-laws and wife Bhawna Khosla, who is from general caste, too come as a big aid. Vikramjit Chaudhary, son of sitting Jalandhar MP Chaudhary Santokh Singh, has been trying for a ticket again after losing to the SAD MLA by 3,500 votes. The AAP is depending on fresher Principal Prem Kumar from the seat. BJP, however, is waiting to import a leader from another party.