INDIA VOTES 2024: Of 20 nominees, only one postgraduate, 2 graduates

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, May 11

In what appears to be a record of sorts, 17 of the total 20 nominees, including those of all five main political parties announced so far for the Ludhiana Lok Sabha constituency are undergraduates or below the undergraduate level.

So much so, eight of them have not even passed the senior secondary standard, with four of them even under-matriculates.

While the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Ashok Parashar Pappi (59), who is also the sitting MLA from the Ludhiana Central segment, is the least educated with the qualification of Class VII standard, the main Opposition Congress nominee, Amrinder Singh Raja Warring (46), who is also the Punjab Congress president, three-time MLA from Gidderbaha, and former Transport Minister, is a matriculate.

The sitting MP Ravneet Singh Bittu (48), who had recently quit the Congress, which he represented thrice in the Lok Sabha from Anandpur Sahib in 2009, and Ludhiana in 2014 and 2019, to contest the General Election to the 18th Lok Sabha on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket, is a Class XII pass-out.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) candidate, Ranjit Singh Dhillon (58), who is a former MLA, had done Giani certificate course, for which the eligibility is Class XII pass-out.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) nominee Jaswinder Kaur (63) is a matriculate and while her husband Davinder Singh (63), who has filed papers as her covering candidate from the BSP, had done diploma in machinist.

Interestingly, three of these six contestants — Ravneet Singh Bittu, Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Ranjit Singh Dhillon — are agriculturists by profession while AAP nominee Ashok Parashar Pappi deals in a cable network business.

Also, two of them – Bittu and Parashar – are turncoats, who had shifted from the Congress.

Another similarity among these candidates is that all are seasoned politicians.

While Bittu is a three-time MP, Warring is a three-time MLA. If Pappi is a sitting MLA, Dhillon is a former MLA, having won from the Ludhiana East segment in 2012 and had lost in 2017 and 2022.

Among the eight Independents and eight nominees of other parties, who have filed their nominations so far, the Independent, Baldev Raj Katna (69), who is a retired PSPCL Senior XEN, is till now the most educated with a postgraduate degree of Master of Engineering (Electrical), while Bhupinder Singh (51) of the Bharatheeya Jawan Kisan Party, who is a retired army man, and another Independent Karan Dhingan (31) are both graduates.

However, the rest 13, including six more Independents and seven from other parties, are also undergraduates.

Amandeep Singh (42) of the Sehajdhari Sikh Federation is a Class XII pass-out.

While Independent Vipan Kumar (47) is a Class VIII pass out, another Independent Jai Parkash Jain is a matriculate. The rest eight — Simrandeep Singh (34) and Ravinder Pal Singh (34) (both Independents), Devinder Singh (47), from the Aam Lok Party United, and Gursewak Singh (51), from Sarvjan Sewa Party, are educated up to Class XII, while Independents Lakhvir Singh (50) is a Class VIII pass out, Naresh Kumar Dhingan (53), is a matriculate, Santosh Kumar (48) of the Bhartiya Inklab Party is under-matric, and Harvinder Kaur (57) of the Samajik Sangharsh Party, is also a matriculate.

Warring youngest, Parashar eldest

While Amrinder Singh Raja Warring is the youngest among the four main nominees, Ashok Parashar Pappi is the eldest. However, all four are in the age bracket of 46 to 59.