AAP candidate aims to make inroads into BJP’s stronghold

Congress that had been winning almost all elections here until 1996, is struggling to stay afloat amid defections by prominent leaders

Once a Congress bastion, the political landscape of Hoshiarpur has seen a major overhaul over the last few years, yet it seems that voters are being offered old wine in a new bottle this time.

In the fray are Raj Kumar Chabbewal, the lone Congress MLA from Hoshiarpur who shifted loyalties to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in March this year, and the grand old party’s Yamini Gomar, who had fought the 2014 elections on an AAP ticket. Gomar was one of the founding members of the AAP in Punjab and had contested the 2014 elections on its ticket. But she left the AAP in 2016 to join the Congress.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded incumbent MP Som Parkash’s wife Anita Som Parkash.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has fielded Sohan Singh Thandal, who had lost the last two assembly elections to Chabbewal.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had initially fielded Rakesh Soman but had to choose a new candidate as Soman left the party to join the AAP after canvassing for two months. It has now fielded district bar association president Ranjit Kumar from the seat.

Demography and political history

Spread across three districts -Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala and Gurdaspur, the constituency has nine assembly segments: Hoshiarpur, Chabbewal (SC), Sham Churasi (SC), Urmur, Dasuya, Mukerian, Phagwara (SC), Bholath and Sri Hargobindpur (SC). The constituency takes pride in having sent political bigwigs such as Giani Zail Singh, former president and one-time chief minister of Punjab, Darbara Singh, a former chief minister, and Kanshi Ram, the Dalit icon who founded the BSP, to the Parliament.

Majority of the voters here are Hindus (58.9%) while Sikhs form 38.8% of the electorate. The seat also has 34.3% Scheduled Caste (SC) voters.

Until 1996, the seat was considered a Congress fortress as the party won all elections here, barring the one in 1977 which was marred by the post-Emergency sentiment against the Congress. The grand old party’s free run was disrupted by BSP supremo Kanshi Ram in 1996.

The saffron party first won from here in 1998, and subsequently in 2014 and 2019, riding on the Modi wave.

The Scheduled Caste voters here had been traditionally siding with the Congress and the BSP. But with the constituency being declared a reserved seat in 2009, following the delimitation process, it turned into an all-Dalit contest and the SC votes were split.

Emergence of AAP

In 2019, the seat saw the emergence of a new challenger in the form of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that has since gained considerable ground here. In the 2022 assembly elections, the AAP managed to wrest five out the nine assembly segments in this constituency.

Its candidate Chabbewal is banking on the Bhagwant Mann-led state’s government’s policies, including 300 units of free electricity to each household, to woo voters. He has also been taking on the BJP for its “divisive politics”.

Given that Chabbewal had polled 3,72,790 (37.59%) votes in the previous elections, which is only 4.9% less than BJP’s incumbent Som Parkash, the AAP has its hopes high, especially since it is expecting him draw some Congress voters to its side.

But in the process, it may lose some of its own loyalists who are said to be unhappy over a poached candidate getting the ticket instead of the party’s own workers.

BJP’s fight against anti-incumbency

BJP candidate Anita Som Prakash is asking for votes in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and her husband and Union minister Som Parkash. She speaks of her husband’s achievements as MP, which includes expansion of roads, highways and railway lines, facelift of Hoshiarpur and Phagwara railway stations, sanction of medical colleges at Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala, sanction of four-laning of the HoshiarpurPhagwara road and expansion of Adampur airport.

She, however, steers clear of mentioning the four-laning project of Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur-Chintpurni road, which failed to become a reality even after two decades of inauguration. Construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya and abrogation of Article 370 are other issues touched by the BJP while campaigning in Hindu majority segments. At many places during the campaigning events, Anita is questioned as to why her husband did not show up in the constituency in the last five years.

She also faces a challenge from within the party, as former MP Vijay Sampla, who had openly conveyed displeasure over being denied a ticket, and former Rajya Sabha member Avinash Rai Khanna are not campaigning for her.

Congress’ survival battle

For the Congress, it is now a struggle to stay afloat, particularly in the Hoshiarpur and Chabbewal segments, in the absence of prominent leaders who have defected to other parties. Party candidate Yamini Gomar is trying hard, despite limited resources and inadequate organisational support, to find a foothold. She is hopeful of support from die-hard Congress voters who vote for the party irrespective of the candidate. During her campaign meetings, she speaks of the need for more industries and infrastructure to address the problem of unemployment. She interacts with women voters and tells them that Congress is committed to gender equality and women emancipation. Attacking the BJP, she asks why it had to change its candidate if its sitting MP’s performance was satisfactory.

SAD fighting a symbolic battle

As for the SAD, it is just fighting a symbolic battle given that it never had much support in this Hindu-dominated seat. But it may spoil the game for its onetime ally, the BJP, by cutting its votes. This is the first time since 1985 that it has fielded its candidate here.

Others in fray

A Tamil Sikh entering the fray has added an interesting dimension to the contest. Jivan Singh Malla, who converted to Sikhism a year ago, is contesting from Bahujan Dravid Party and is seeking votes in the name of ‘panth’ and BSP supremo late Kanshi Ram. Bhim Rao Yashwant Ambedkar, the grandson of Dr B R Ambedkar, has also thrown in his hat. His father Yashwant Bhim Rao Ambedkar had fought the 1962 elections from Hoshiarpur as Republican Party of India candidate and had finished as first runner up.

Given the low victory margins on this seat in previous elections – in 2019, Som Parkash was defeated by a margin of 366 votes – the fight for Hoshiarpur will be a nail-biting one.