Election fever grips Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Union Territory of Chandigarh

With the election commission announcing the dates for the Lok Sabha elections 2019, the poll fever has gripped Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Union Territory of Chandigarh.

While the regional political parties have announced their candidate for some seats, the national political parties including the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are still in the churning process.

To ensure the victory of their candidates, political parties have been working on the permutation and combination formulas thus changing the political equations every alternate day in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Union Territory of Chandigarh.

Punjab

In Punjab the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) will contest on 10 seats, out of 13, and has announced two candidates including a woman while its main political party (BJP) is still in the process of short listing its candidates.

Former Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Bibi Jagir Kaur is a SAD candidate from Khadoor Sahib who in 2012 was forced to resign from the post of a Punjab Cabinet minister after a CBI court in Patiala awarded her a five-year imprisonment in her daughter Harpreet Kaur’s death case. She was, however, acquitted of the charges by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in December 2018.

The party has also picked up former Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha Charanjit Singh Atwal as its candidate from Jalandhar (SC) seat. A two-time MP from Phillaur constituency, Atwal also has been Punjab Vidhan Sabha speaker twiceThe AAP was the first political party to have taken a lead by announcing five candidates including two sitting MPs for 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Sitting MPs Bhagwant Mann and Sadhu Singh have been fielded from Sangrur and Faridkot constituencies respectively. While Ravjot Singh is party candidate from Hoshiarpur, Kuldip Singh Dhaliwal will contest on AAP ticket from Amritsar and Narinder Singh Shergill will be AAP candidate from Anandpur Sahib.

Shiromani Akali Dal (Taksali), a regional political party that was floated by Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, MP from Khadoor Sahib, Dr Rattan Singh Ajnala and Sewa Singh Sekhwan after quitting the SAD just few months before the Lok Sabha elections, has announced JJ Singh, former Chief of Indian Army, is candidate from Khadoor Sahib. Gen JJ Singh had resigned the SAD in December last and joined the SAD (Taksali), in February, 2019. Former Deputy Speaker of Punjab Legislative Assembly, Bir Davinder Singh has been declared the party’s candidate from Anandpur Sahib.

The pact between the AAP and SAD (Taksali), to contest the Lok Sabha election as partners, failed and both the parties have now decided to contest the election separately.

The Punjab Democratic Alliance (PDA) has also announced seven candidates for the elections.

The Alliance comprises Sukhpal Singh Khaira-led Punjab Ekta Party (PEP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Lok Insaaf Party (LIP), Punjab Manch led by suspended AAP MP Dharamvira Gandhi, CPI and the Revolutionary Marxist Party of India (RMPI).

The PDA has fielded suspended AAP MP from Patiala Dr Dharamvir Gandhi from Patiala, Paramjit Kaur Khalra from Khadoor Sahib, Manwinder Singh Giaspura from Fatehgarh Sahib (SC), Baldev Singh Jaiton from Faridkot (SC), Vikram Singh Sodhi from Anandpur Sahib, former bureaucrat Khushi Ram from Hoshiarpur (SC) and Balwinder Kumar from Jalandhar (SC) seat.

After winning the Vidhan Sabha elections with a thumping majority in 2017, the Punjab Congress party is trying to consolidate its position for the Lok Sabha elections.

Congress’s screening committee for Punjab, held a meeting in Delhi on March 10 to shortlist the probable candidates for all 13 Lok Sabha constituencies. The meeting was attended by KC Venugopal, AICC general secretary (organisation), Asha Kumari, in charge Punjab Congress, Capt Amarinder Singh, CM Punjab and Sunil Jakhar, the state Congress chief. The members of screening panel also met some senior Punjab leaders including Partap Singh Bajwa, Member Rajya Sabha, to get some feedback. Sources say that the party may shift some sitting MPs from their present constituencies while considering the viability of other potential candidates.

Haryana

In Haryana, this election will not be a cake walk for the BJP that won 10 Lok Sabha and 47 Vidhan Sabha seats in 2014 even if the RSS has strengthened in the state in last almost five years of the BJP rule. The BJP in the state may face a major revolt with its senior leaders raising doubts on the functioning and performance of the Khattar government. Rebel BJP MP from Kurukshetra, Raj Kumar Saini floated Loktantra Suraksha Party (LSP), and even contested the Jind by-elections separately.

After Saini quit the party, the BJP is now looking for a new face to field from Kurukshetra seat in which Acharaya Dev Vrat ( pracharak and principal of Gurukul institution in Kurukshetra) was interested before his appointment as Governor of Himachal Pradesh.

The Congress on Monday announced the state poll coordination committee under the leadership of former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Ghulam Nabi Azad, AICC General Secretary and in-charge of Haryana Congress announced that the panel will have Ashok Tanwar, state Congress chief, Kiran Choudhry, Kumari Selja, Deepinder Singh Hooda, Kuldeep Bishnoi and Kuldeep Sharma as members.

Following a family feud in the Chautala Family, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) witnessed a parallel split ahead the Lok Sabha elections. Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala, floated a new party – Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), which virtually weakened the INLD from its roots. Now there are indications that INLD will be a political partner with the BJP. Earlier INLD had snapped its ties with the BJP. The JJP which emerged as the second largest party following the BJP in Jind by-election has kept its options open for alliance with the AAP. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had extended its support to the JJP backed candidate Digvijay Chautala in the Jind by-poll and had even addressed rallies seeking votes for him.

Himachal Pradesh

For just four Lok Sabha seats, elections fever has gone up in Himachal Pradesh. The Congress and the BJP are the main political parties here and none of the two has announced its candidates. The Congress on March 13 held a meeting to shortlist its probable two candidates each for four Lok Sabha constituencies at Chandigarh while the BJP leadership met in Baddi (Solan) on March 11.

Senior Congress leaders including Kuldeep Rathore, state Congress chief, Mukesh Agnihotri, CLP leader, Sukhwinder Sukhu, former state president, and former ministers GS Bali and Sudhir Sharma had a formal meeting under the leadership of Rajni Patil, in charge of the Himachal Pradesh unit of the Congress.

In Baddi, BJP’s meeting was attended by party’s Lok Sabha election in-charge Tirath Singh Rawat, Prem Kumar Dhumal, former CM, Jai Ram Thakur, the chief minister of the state, state BJP president Satpal Satti and other senior leaders.

While Congress is likely to field three new and young faces this time, the BJP has given preference to its sitting MPs, sources revealed.

Chandigarh

The AAP formally announced former Civil Aviation Minister Harmohan Dhawan as its candidate for the Chandigarh Lok Sabha constituency while the Congress, BJP and the BSP are yet to announce their candidates .

After his 10 years association with the BJP, Dhawan shifted his loyalty to AAP when he felt ignored and humiliated by the party. He was also a strong contender for party ticket in 2014 but the BJP pitched Kirron Kher from Chandigarh seat.

Actress turned-politician Kirron Kher, the sitting MP, is likely to be given the second chance to contest from city though her candidature may face opposition from former city MP and senior BJP leader Satya Pal Jain who is Additional Solicitor General of India and a Member of the Law Commission of India. Sanjay Tandon, president of the Chandigarh unit of BJP and son of veteran BJP leader and former Chhattisgarh Governor late Balram Dass Tandon, is also keen to contest the election from here.

In Congress too there are three candidates showing their interest to contest Lok Sabha election from Chandigarh seat--former railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, former union Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari and Navjot Kaur Sidhu, wife of Punjab cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu,