Sangrur Lok Sabha constituency, where CM Bhagwant Mann, in 2019, won with a margin of over 1 Lakh votes for the second consecutive time, is going for by-election. Though, for the last two terms, this constituency has proved to be a stronghold of the Aam Aadmi Party, this by-election is seen as crucial and a neck to neck four cornered contest between the AAP, Congress, Akali-BSP alliance and the BJP.
The Aam Aadmi Party has fielded Gurmail Singh as its candidate here, a grassroot worker of the party is the ‘sarpanch’ of Gharachon village and party’s district incharge. He had already filed his nomination yesterday. This is for the first time the party has given such big opportunity to Gurmail Singh. On the other hand, SAD (Amritsar) chief Simranjit Singh Mann has also filed his nomination yesterday.
Now, the SAD-BSP alliance, BJP and the Congress party candidates will file their nominations today. The Akali-BSP alliance, after a series of meetings, has announced Kamaldeep Kaur, sister of Balwant Singh Rajoana, as their candidate. Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal tweeted:
“After thorough discussion with panthic orgs & BSP & in keeping with the ‘sandesh’ of Sri Akal Takht Sahib Jathedar, SAD has decided to field Bibi Kamaldeep Kaur Rajoana as the joint panthic candidate for Sangrur Lok Sabha by poll.She’ll contest the election on @Akali_Dal_ symbol.”
On the other hand, the Congress party has announced former Dhuri MLA Dalvir Singh Goldy as its candidate. In 2017, Goldy was elected as the Congress MLA from Dhuri assembly, though in the recent assembly elections held in February this year, he lost to Bhagwant Mann with over a margin of 58,000 votes.
Meanwhile the Bharatiya Janata Party has announced Kewal Singh Dhillon, a two times MLA (now former) from Barnala, as its candidate for Sangrur Lok Sabha by-poll. He joined the BJP just 2 days back. He was a strong Congressman and contested as a Congress candidate from Sangrur Lok Sabha in 2019, but lost to Bhagwant Mann with a margin of 1,10,211 votes. Kewal has a strong presence in the area and fielding him from here, the BJP has given a tough challenge to all the other major parties. Though earlier, leaders like Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, former CM Capt Amarinder Singh and a few more, who supported or joined the BJP, faced a humiliating defeat as the people were unhappy with the Saffron party due to the farm bills. But currently, it’s believed that after Sidhu Moose Wala’s murder, the political situation has changed in the state.
As per the media reports, the SAD-BSP candidate Kamaldeep Kaur has met the SAD (Amritsar) chief Simranjit Singh Mann to seek his support in the by-elections. Though Simranjit has already filed his nomination, it’ll be interesting to see how he “supports” Kamaldeep Kaur.
The voting for this by-election will take place on June 23, while the results will be announced on June 26.
