Sangrur LS bypoll: SAD, BJP, Congress candidates file papers
SANGRUR: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) candidate Kamaldeep Kaur, 44; Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominee Kewal Dhillon, 72; and former Dhuri MLA Dalvir Singh Goldy, 40, who is representing the Congress, filed their nomination papers for the Sangrur Lok Sabha byelection on Monday.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded Gurmail Singh, 38, a confidant of chief minister Bhagwant Mann, while SAD (Amritsar) president Simranjit Singh Mann, 77, is also in the fray for the election on June 23 .
Monday was the last day to file papers. As many as 18 nominations were filed during the day, taking the total to 21. The scrutiny of nominations will be done on Tuesday and the last date of withdrawal of candidature is June 9. The Lok Sabha seat fell vacant after Mann won the assembly election from Dhuri constituency in Sangrur district and became the chief minister (CM).
SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal and senior party leaders accompanied Kamaldeep as she filed her papers before returning officer Jitendra Jorwal. Kamaldeep is the foster sister of Balwant Singh Rajoana, who is on the death row after being convicted in former CM Beant Singh’s assassination case. Though she is being projected as the joint candidate of all Panthic bodies and the SAD-BSP alliance, she will contest the byelection on the SAD symbol.
After the filing of papers, the SAD chief again appealed to Simranjit Singh Mann to withdraw his candidature to “preserve the Panthic unity” for release all Sikh prisoners languishing in jails for years, including Balwant Singh Rajoana. “This is not the time for a political fight. It can be done at some other time. Now it’s time to fight for the common cause of Sikh Panth and release of Sikh prisoners,” said Sukhbir, adding that even in 1989, Punjabis had united to elect Simranjit Mann to the Lok Sabha when he was in jail.
Congress candidate Goldy had lost the Dhuri assembly seat to Bhagwant Mann in the recent assembly elections. “The party has put trust in me and I will not break it. I appeal to the people of Sangrur to give me a chance to be their voice in the Lok Sabha and I will do everything in my hands to raise their issues. They had seen me fighting for their issues in Punjab and I will do the same in the Parliament,” Goldy said after filing his papers.
Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, who accompanied him, said: “The AAP had formed the government on the promise of ‘badlav’ (change). However, now, people of Punjab feel that they have made a mistake. We hope they will correct their mistake this time.”
BJP candidate Kewal Singh Dhillon was accompanied by party’s state chief Ashwani Sharma and former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar, who joined the saffron party last month. A former two-time Congress MLA from Barnala, Dhillon got the BJP ticket just a day after he joined the party in the presence of Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday.
“Both law and order as well as economic situation of Punjab have deteriorated, and only the BJP can fix it. It is the reason I joined the party,” said Dhillon, a businessman-turned-politician who was expelled from the Congress for “anti-party activities” in February after he was denied a ticket to contest the state polls.
Punjab BJP chief Ashwani Sharma said: “People of Sangrur can get more benefits by sending Kewal Dhillon to the Parliament as the BJP is in power at the Centre. Besides, no one is safe in Punjab. The state had achieved peace after a long struggle, and now it is in danger once again due to the failure of the AAP government.”