Conquering the Jalalabad assembly constituency since 2009, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal is eyeing another victory from his bastion this time, where he is facing three turncoats. Unlike the previous state assembly polls, Sukhbir is in a fairly comfortable position to win back the seat, which is currently represented by Congress’ Raminder Singh Awla.
Awla, a first-timer, won the Akali bastion in 2019 byelections, after Sukhbir vacated the seat following his win in 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Ferozepur — a parliamentary constituency of which Jalalabad is also a part. He had defeated SAD’s Raj Singh Dibipura, by a margin of more than 16,000 votes.
In 2017, Sukhbir faced the toughest electoral battle in his political career, facing two stalwarts — Aam Aadmi Party’s Bhagwant Mann and Congress’ Ravneet Singh Bittu — turning Jalalabad into a hot seat. However, this time, winning the seat appears to be a cakewalk for the SAD chief, who has also been declared as the Chief Ministerial face for the SAD-BSP combine.
Against the not-so-strong candidates, three of whom are turncoats fielded by mainstream parties — Congress’ Mohan Singh Phalianwala is BSP’s former MP; AAP’s Jagdeep ‘Goldy’ Kamboj is Indian Youth Congress’s former national secretary; and BJP’s Puran Chand is a former Akali leader, Sukhbir is standing strong. But, the winds of change, clearly visible in a particular section of Jalalabad, are favouring the Aam Aadmi Party — something that other parties to be concerned about, but may not be for Sukhbir.
Being a Jat Sikh, Sukhbir holds sway in the constituency which is dominated by the Rai Sikh community — attribute it to his family name or the position in the party, or his development works in the segment that lies close to Indo-Pak international border. Voters agreed that roads were constructed and infrastructure was improved during SAD’s term, but they also maintained that no effort was made to improve their living standards.
Of the total 2.14 lakh voters in Jalalabad, more than half are from the Rai Sikh community. Interestingly, Sukhbir’s friend-turned-foe Sher Singh Ghubaya, a former Akali leader from the Rai Sikh community who was representing Jalalabad segment before he gave up the seat for Sukhbir in 2009 bypolls, is now with the Congress. Notably, Sukhbir also has a stronghold over the people of the Rai Sikh community, which eventually results in division of their votes.
Despite all this, Jalalabad is not considered to be a major challenge for Sukhbir, mainly because this time, the voters, by voting for Sukhbir, will be electing the Chief Minister and not just the MLA. Secondly, Akali Dal, being a cadre-based party, has a stronghold at the grassroots. “Sukhbir Badal is our CM face and he is busy campaigning for the other candidates of SAD and also BSP. We are here to take care of his constituency, and we are sure of his win,” said Sukhbir’s close aide, who, along with many others, is managing his campaign on his home turf.
Sukhbir’s hold in Jalalabad can also be gauged from the fact that the sitting Congress MLA Awla had decided to withdraw his candidature from the seat against the SAD president.
Awla, who became the first Congress MLA after 12 years from Jalalabad, had sought a party ticket from the neighbouring Gur Har Sahai constituency, which is also his hometown. However, Congress refused Awla’s plea to change the seat being a sitting MLA, thus denying him the party ticket, and fielding two-time MP from Ferozepur Mohan Singh Falianwala, a former BSP leader.
Phalianwala, who had won Ferozepur parliamentary constituency twice in ... and ... as BSP candidate, had earlier also contested the assembly elections thrice from different political parties, but could never win.
Fighting an image of a seasonal turncoat, Phalianwala is also struggling to keep the Congress vote base intact in the wake of AAP’s emergence, while banking on consolidating electoral support of Dalits and other communities after the announcement of Charanjit Singh Channi’s name as its CM face for Punjab polls.
Hailing from Rai Sikh community, Phalianwala also faces a challenge to exert a pull on the entire community as BJP has also fielded a leader from the dominant caste.
BJP’s Puran Chand, a former Akali leader, is striving hard for making his presence felt in the primarily rural segment, where anger still prevails against the saffron party over the farm laws, which now stand repealed.
Besides, BJP itself does not have any party cadre in the segment as it has all along been contesting the seat in alliance with the Akali Dal. But this time, SAD has tied up with BSP, while BJP has forged an alliance with two splinter groups — each led by former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and Akali stalwart Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa.
Amidst all this, AAP’s Goldy Kamboj is banking on the party’s call to end dynastic politics. Riding high on AAP’s popularity wave, he is wooing the young voters. A former youth Congress leader, Goldy is being liked by the young voters, who are also impressed by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Youngsters believed that though infrastructural development has been done in the halqa, no effort was made to raise people’s standard of living. “Unemployment is a big problem here. We don’t have any big industry in the area where one can get jobs. The infrastructural facility is fine, but work is also needed...what we would do with the roads and buildings, if we don’t have job to earn and food to eat,” said a young voter.
Not only the youth, but the voters of backward sections of the rural areas are also not happy with Sukhbir. “We are still living under the same conditions...In fact, Sukhbir hardly comes here. Only the local Akali leaders are active here, who discriminate with us,” said another voter.
Sharing a 40-km-long border with Pakistan, Jalalabad constituency, comprising 154 villages along with Jalalabad town, has witnessed development over the past decade. Sukhbir has made concrete paved roads in every village, interlocking tiles have been installed in the middle of these concrete roads so that these roads do not have to be demolished for laying sewerage and water pipelines if needed in future. Besides, a Civil Hospital has been set up in Jalalabad city, and a flyover was constructed on Muktsar road.
RAI SIKH—DECIDING FACTOR
In the Hindu-dominating constituency of Jalalabad, Rai Sikh, Kamboj, Arora, Mahajan, and Sikhs are the prominent communities. Among these, Rai Sikh, a scheduled caste, comprises more than 35 percent voters — dominating the rural belt — which always remains a deciding factor. On the other hand, Hindu communities have a presence in the urban belt. Before August 30, 2007, the Rai Sikh caste was included in the backward classes. Later, it was notified in the SC category with the Akali Government’s efforts—a reason why the community backs SAD.
PAST ELECTIONS
In 2017, Jalalabad witnessed a high-voltage electoral battle when AAP fielded its state unit chief and now party’s CM face Bhagwant Mann, and Congress fielded its Ludhiana MP from Ludhiana Ravneet Singh Bittu against Sukhbir. Even as Sukhbir won the elections, his victory margin diminished. In his maiden contest from the seat in 2009, Sukhbir won by a margin of over 80,000 votes — which is 50 percent of the total votes polled. In 2012, his victory margin sharply fell from 50,000 votes (34 percent) to a mere 18,000 votes (10 percent) in 2017.
Since the creation of Jalalabad constituency in 1967, it has witnessed total of 14 elections, including two bypolls. Of these, SAD and Congress won five times each, while the Communist Party of India won the seat four times. Mehtab Singh was the last leader of the Communist party to win the seat in 1985.
After 1997, the main contest is between the Congress and Akali Dal. In 1997, Rai Sikh leader Sher Singh Ghubaya won the seat for the first time to become SAD MLA. In 2002, Congress Hans Raj Josan won the seat, but he lost to Ghubaya in 2007. In 2009, Ghubaya vacated the seat for Sukhbir, after which he retained the seat till 2019.