INDIA VOTES 2024: All set for Lok Sabha poll in Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib seats today

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, May 31

Polling in one of the most bitterly fought and high-stake General Election to the 18th Lok Sabha will be held in Ludhiana, the state’s biggest and largest district, in terms of area and population, on Saturday.

It is for the first time in the political history that Ludhiana and Fatehgarh Sahib seats are poised for a triangular battle this time. While Ludhiana, which is predominantly urban, is a general constituency, Fatehgarh Sahib, which is largely rural, is reserved for the Scheduled Caste (SC) member.

CANDIDATES IN FRAY

• Ludhiana: 43
• Fatehgarh Sahib: 14

Key issues

Unemployment, drugs, sacrilege, plight of farmers, traders, industrialists, inflation, deteriorating law and order situation and unkept poll promises.

Big fights

Ravneet Singh Bittu, Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Ashok Parashar Pappi are heading for a close contest in Ludhiana while sitting MP Dr Amar Singh of the Congress is facing a challenge from AAP’s Gurpreet Singh GP in Fatehgarh Sahib.

POLLING TIMINGS

7 am to 6 pm

DISTRICT PROFILE

Assembly segments: 14 (9 in Ludhiana PC, 5 in Fatehgarh Sahib PC)

Parliamentary seats: 2

VOTERS

DISTRICT LUDHIANA PC

26,94,622 17,58,614

Male: 14,35,624 9,37,094

Female: 12,58,847 8,21,386

• Biggest segment: Gill (2,78,191 voters)
• Smallest segment: Raikot (1,47,991 voters)
• Expenditure sensitive Assembly segments: 43
• Expenditure sensitive pockets: 167

The rather unexpected entry of the Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring has turned Ludhiana into a hot seat and has also made the contest interesting.

The three-time MLA from Gidderbaha and former transport minister, Warring has come here all the way from his home constituency Bathinda to contest what he says, “war against traitor”.

Once party colleagues and friends, Warring and sitting three-time MP Ravneet Singh Bittu have turned foes, with the latter calling the Congress candidate, who is also former president of the Indian Youth Congress, an “outsider”, saying he has been “tricked by sharks in the Congress to end his clout in the party”.

Bittu had quit the Congress to join the BJP, which has fielded him again from Ludhiana, which the grandson of slain Punjab CM Beant Singh has been representing since 2014. Earlier, he had won his maiden parliamentary poll from Anandpur Sahib in 2009 to become the youngest MP from Punjab at the age of 33.

Besides Bittu and Warring, the ruling AAP has nominated its sitting first-time MLA from Ludhiana Central Ashok Parashar Pappi while the SAD has fielded its former one-time MLA from Ludhiana East Ranjit Singh Dhillon from here.

While Pappi, who had demolished the Congress citadel Ludhiana Central by defeating the then three-time Congress MLA Surinder Kumar Dawar in the 2022 Assembly poll, is banking on his own and party’s performance, Dhillon, who had remained the party’s district president and had become MLA from Ludhiana East in 2012 but lost the previous two consecutive Assembly elections from the same seat in 2017 and 2022, is claiming that he has been in touch with the masses for the past long time and being a local, feels that he has an “edge over others”.

Having over 17.58 lakh voters spread across nine Assembly segments in the district, the Ludhiana parliamentary constituency has been the stronghold of the Congress and the SAD, which had won this Sikh-dominated but urban seat for six and five times, respectively.

Of the total 12 LS elections held here since 1977, the Simranjit Singh Mann-led SAD (Amritsar) had also represented Ludhiana once in 1989.

While the AAP had contested the seat once in 2014, finishing runner-up, the BJP had supported the SAD under its previous alliance for nine times and had fought Ludhiana alone twice in 1996 and 1992 when it had ended third and second, respectively.

After the curtains came down on the electioneering on Thursday evening, candidates in the fray have pulled all stops to woo voters through door-to-door and one-to-one outreach.

All main political parties are focusing more on the urban vote bank, which is estimated at over 70 per cent, while the SC electorates are also having an estimated ratio of over 23 per cent as per the 2011 Census data.

Being the industrial and business capital of the state, Ludhiana’s major issues revolve around trade and industry, which laments that no successive governments either at the Centre or in the state had ever paid heed to their demands. The lack of basic civic amenities, poor road and street infrastructure, especially inside the city, traffic bottlenecks, parking pangs, rising pollution levels, inadequate arrangements of potable water and sewerage, besides the non-existent drainage system, which almost drowns major parts of Ludhiana even after a short spell of rain, are among the perennial problems being raised by residents before the contestants.

Besides, the rampant use and easy availability of drugs and the rising crime are also the prominent issues.

Bittu, on his part, is seeking votes on the name of PM Narendra Modi, citing the past 10-year performance, which, he says, made him join the saffron party. He is also raising the issues of national security and drug abuse and promising to develop Ludhiana into a model city. “Ludhiana will not accept any outsider and my work and personal contact with people will pay this time as well,” the firebrand parliamentarian feels.

Warring, who is mingling with locals to shed his “outsider” tag, which he rubbishes, while claiming that as the PPCC chief he has been working for the entire state, is targeting Bittu, terming him as a “traitor who once enjoyed the trust of the Congress, elected for our cause but betrayed the people”. Confident of getting people’s support, the Congress heavyweight strongly feels that this election will show that such “treachery” won’t be tolerated.

Though there are a total of 43 official contestants in the poll fray, which is the highest count in the state, the main contest, this time, is between the BJP, Congress and AAP.

While both Congress and BJP candidates are banking on their respective traditional vote bank, AAP is getting support from the masses, especially the youth, fed up with those who had been ruling them in turns for ages at the Centre. The SAD, the lone regional party, is concentrating on the rural vote bank.

Polling parties reach destinations

All polling parties reached their respective polling booths in the entire district with EVMs and other election material after proper checks and rechecks.

As many as 1,843 polling parties, comprising 9,395 staffers, were dispatched in buses with the poll material.

Besides, 15,605 civil and police staffers were part of the election teams and flying squads in the district. With this, a total of 25,000 odd personnel have been put on the poll duty. Only presiding officers will be allowed to use their mobile phones,” said Sawhney.

Pink polling booths

Nine pink polling stations, one each in 9 Assembly segments under Ludhiana parliamentary constituency, manned by only women staff and distinguished by their all-pink design, including pink walls and table covers; 89 model polling stations; 10 each in 8 Assembly segments and 9 in Ludhiana East; 18 green polling stations; and 9 exclusive youth polling stations have been set up, one in each of 9 Assembly segments, have been set up to attract and facilitate different sections of the voters.

PWD polling stations

Besides nine polling stations, exclusively for persons with disabilities (PWDs), have also been established, one in each segment, with all facilities to ensure hassle-free entry and exit of PWD voters.

Measures to beat heat

In order to mitigate heatwave conditions, a host of measures have been taken. These include ORS and rose refreshing drink at all the polling stations, special hydration stations, shades at all polling stations, special training to ASHA workers to deal with cases of heat stroke, 42 ambulances on standby, including 27 in Ludhiana parliamentary constituency, besides mapping all the polling stations with hospitals/ dispensaries in their vicinity.

Liquor monitoring

As many as 17 special teams, including 12 for Ludhiana parliamentary constituency, were undertaking 24×7 monitoring through special nakas (check-points) and CCTV surveillance of two liquor production units and 924 liquor sale outlets in the district.