Young guns raring to deliver
A day after Punjab civic body results were out, HT profiles eight greenhorn winners (below 30 years) to know what prompted them to test the political waters and what is on their mind to serve the people better to make a difference.
The youngest candidate to win the election in Faridkot district, Pardeep Kaur took the poll plunge after she felt there was the need to have young and qualified councillors in the municipalities. The 23-year-old won with a margin of 324 votes from the ward that was reserved for scheduled caste (SC) women candidates. “Despite my being this young, people of my area showed faith in me by electing me as their representative. I will work hard for development of my area,” she says. “The sewerage laying project started during the last tenure of the civic body is still incomplete. I will raise the issue to get them completed soon. Installation of streetlights is also on my agenda. Besides, I’d also work for the upliftment of women,” she adds.
Inderjeet says it was the coronavirus-induced lockdown that made him think about taking a plunge into politics as he saw many elected civic body representatives staying away from residents of the area. “After graduation, I started a gymnasium and a fitness centre in Bathinda. No one from my family has any political affiliation. During lockdown, I worked with other volunteers to provide cooked food and ration to the underprivileged families. On such visits, I came across core civic amenity issues being faced by the residents,” the 28-year-old graduate says. Strengthening the wastewater disposal system is crucial for the city, he adds.
A lawyer who also runs a gym in Jagraon, Himanshu Malik took a gambit when he decided to contest against Rakesh Kumar, a known face of the ruling Congress. “Many said that I will lose my deposit. But I ignored them and concentrated on campaigning,” he says. I was active in social service for the past few years. I even sought Congress ticket, but they refused. So I decided to contest as an independent and won,” he says.
He won with a margin of 419 votes. Since Himanshu runs a gym, he is well-connected with the youths of the ward. And it helped him, he says. His father is a dairy owner and a cattle trader. “My priority is the development of my ward. There are several such as roads, streetlights, sewage lines and potable water that we need to work on,” he adds.
A graduate in humanities, Harpal says he has served as vicepresident of Youth Congress’s Sunam block unit and the party fielded him after he worked hard in the area.
Harpal, whose grandfather also served as chief of the Sunam nagar council, says, “I developed interest in politics as I was inspired by my grandfather. My father worked as a government employee. I had no money to spend on the elections. But it was the party’s local leadership that showed faith in me on the basis of hard work.”
Harpal adds, “As the people of the nagar council voted for me, it is now my responsibility to get development works in the area done and arrange pension for the elderly and widows.”
A bachelor in information technology (IT), Jasdeep runs his family business of a gun house and a petrol pump in Patiala district’s Nabha. “I had a keen interest in politics from a very young age as my father is into it for the past three decades,” said Jasdeep, whose father Amardeep Singh is chairman of the Nabha Improvement Trust.
Jasdeep got 812 votes and won by a margin of 72 from Aam Aadmi Party candidate Rajesh Kumar. “During the Covid-19 lockdown, I along with other youths provided all the help to the people and arranged basic necessities for them. It actually motivated me to lead my ward from the front and serve people,” he said.
His two top priorities are sewerage problem and open drains.
Sarabjit clinched victory by defeating Congress candidate and former Banga municipal council chief Paramjit Singh Rai by 112 votes. A first-time councillor, Sarabjit graduated in civil engineering and runs a finance company along with a departmental store in the city. Sarabjit, who is the first in his family to enter politics, says the residents of his ward chose an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate as they wanted development in the locality. “I also joined politics because we keep criticising politicians for doing nothing for people while sitting in our homes. That does not help,” says Sarabjit. His two main priorities are security of residents and resolving parking hassles.
Kavita, whose husband Suraj Parkash has served as general secretary of the Patti unit of the Youth Congress, stepped into politics on the development plank. Her main objective behind becoming the councillor is to make her ward “dirt-free”. Kavita, who is the first person in her in-laws’ family to become a councilor, says it was her husband’s dream to develop the ward. “After the ward was reserved for women, I took upon myself to fulfill his wish. The people of our ward have been facing innumerable problems for many decades due to poor sanitation in the area, which often causes outbreak of diseases,” she says.
Her top priority task is to concrete all the streets in the ward and lay underground sewerage, she adds.
The 29-year-old, who contested the election for the first time, has been active in the area as a social worker. Ruchi, whose husband Ricky Bector is a Congress activist, says, “The party gave me ticket as the leadership showed faith in me. And now, the area residents have given me a chance to serve them. I am committed to bring a change in my ward.” “During the door-to-door campaigning in the ward, I found that people were more than welcoming. They treated me as one of their family members. The residents already knew me as I have been active in social service,” she adds. She defeated SAD candidate Paramjit Kaur Munday with a margin of 122 votes. Her priority will be laying sewage line in the ward.