Hoshiarpur, founded during the early part of the 14th century, has provided platform to the politicians, who went on to attain fame at the national-level. Be it Giani Zail Singh, Kanshi Ram, Avinash Rai Khanna, Santosh Chaudhary, Mayawati or Ambika Soni, Hoshiarpur has the unique distinction of providing a level electoral battlefield.
In 2019, the excitement continues in the constituency considered as the one that reflects shades of Dalit politics in Punjab. Presently, BJP’s senior Dalit leader and Union Minister Vijay Sampla is representing the Hindu-dominated reserve constituency — comprising nearly 40 percent of the scheduled caste (SC) population.
Already announcing his candidature from the seat, Sampla would not only fight against the opponent political parties but also against his rivals within the saffron party.
On the other hand, Congress is set to face the problem of plenty with several senior leaders, including former MP, former state cabinet minister, sitting MLA, among others, vying for the ticket.
Already out in the field, the principal opposition party in the state — Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) — has taken a lead in announcing its Doaba zone president Dr Ravjot Singh as its candidate.
While 2014 saw a triangular contest between Congress, SAD-BJP combine and the AAP, 2019 is set to witness a four-way fight with the grand alliance, under the banner of Punjab Democratic Alliance (PDA), taking shape.
But with Congress and BJP taking turns to represent the seat since 1998, it would be interesting to see how the new challengers would fare this time.
Sitting MP Sampla is fighting a two-way battle — one against his own party-men. Besides, he would also be fighting an anti-incumbency factor against him — both in the state, and at the Centre for being the Union Cabinet Minister. Notwithstanding, he is confident of retaining the seat.
Though the BJP is known for resolving the party’s internal issues at its own level, the infighting among its local leaders is out in the open. Sampla has bitter relations with the lone party MLA from the segment, Som Parkash, who has also staked claim for the party ticket.
Sampla and Parkash rarely share the stage together. In fact, any effort to trim down the bitterness between the two proved to be futile. Sampla hails from a faction led by Phagwara’s former MLA Swana Ram — saffron party’s first Dalit leader in Punjab who had been Minister twice in the SAD-BJP governments, and Parkash was representing the opposite group.
The differences increased when Sampla trailed from Phagwara assembly segment in 2014 Lok Sabha election. Later, Sampla strongly opposed party ticket to Parkash for 2017 state assembly polls, and backed Swarna Ram’s son Mohan Lal.
Bringing them together to secure a victory for the party would be a major challenge for the saffron brigade. BJP contests on four seats, out of total nine assembly segments in the constituency, in coalition with the SAD, and managed to win just one — Phagwara — during 2017 elections.
In Congress, many senior leaders are eyeing the party ticket — right from the former Union Minister Santosh Chaudhary, to her daughter Namita Chaudhary, from sitting MLAs, to former state cabinet minister Sarwan Singh Phillaur, among others.
The former three-time MP, Chaudhary has filed an application from the seat, along with her daughter Namita, confident of securing the party ticket while banking on her lineage of traditional Congressmen.
Chaudhary has won the seat in 2009, but the slender margin of just 366 votes, against BJP’s Som Parkash, has forced the Congress high command to replace her for 2014 elections with Mohinder Singh Kaypee, who was the sitting MP from neighbouring Jalandhar segment.
Kaypee, who had lost to Sampla by 13,582 votes, appears to be uninterested in contesting from Hoshiarpur, and eyeing ticket from his old seat — Jalandhar.
Congress’ other prominent dalit leaders — Chabbewal MLA Dr Raj Kumar and Sham Churasi MLA Pawan Adia — are also ticket aspirants from Hoshiarpur.
Dr Raj Kumar had been the chairman of state Congress’ SC cell for long time now, and it is believed that he has a fair chance of getting the party ticket for representing the dalit community not only in his region, but across the state.
If that was not enough, the “turncoat” leaders — former SAD Minister Sarwan Singh Phillaur, and Aam Aadmi Party’s candidate from Hoshiarpur in 2014 polls Yamini Gomar have also staked their claims for the ticket.
Six-time legislator Phillaur, who had been the Jails Minister in the previous SAD-BJP government, had resigned from the Cabinet and SAD in 2016 on moral grounds after his son Damanveer’s name cropped up in drugs cases, and joined the Congress in the same year.
Gomar, who had secured more than two lakhs votes in 2014 elections, had gave up the “broom” to hold the Congress’ “hand” in 2016 alleging that AAP has lost its core ideology. Now, she is also hopeful of being rewarded with the party ticket.
AAP, on the other hand, has surpassed others in announcing its candidates on five seats including Dr Ravjot Singh for Hoshiarpur. An MD in medicine from Chandigarh’s PGIMER, Dr Ravjot had also contested 2017 assembly polls from Sham Chaurasi assembly segment in Hoshiarpur but lost to Congress’ Pawan Kumar Adia by a narrow margin.
Dr Ravjot also runs a hospital in Model Town, Hoshiarpur, besides heading a philanthropic organisation — Shaheed Bhagat Singh Sena, and is expected to have a close contact with the people of the area. But winning Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha constituency, covering nine assembly segments, against the traditional players would be a tough task for Dr Ravjot, especially with AAP having almost negligible presence on Doaba region.
To make up for that “gap”, AAP is sincerely working on taking the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) aboard, as the party is said to have a considerable foothold in this constituency. But, on the other hand, the BSP is also negotiating with various factions under the Punjab Democratic Alliance (PDA) seeking three seats, including Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur, in its kitty.
BSP, way back in 1989, made an entry in the state electoral scene and played a significant role in breaking the Congress’ strong dominance in the segment. BSP contested elections in 1989 and 1992, and lost. But at the same time, it marked its presence by securing 1,08,067 and 90,461 votes.
It was in 1996 general elections that the BSP founder Kanshi Ram won the seat by contesting from Hoshiarpur in alliance with SAD led by Parkash Singh Badal. Two years later, Congress’ three-time MP Kamal Chaudhary joined the saffron brigade and won the 1998 elections for the BJP.
Since then, the Congress and BJP are taking turns to represent the constituency.
CONSTITUENCY AT A GLANCE
Hoshiarpur constituency comprises nine assembly segments out of which seven are represented by the Congress legislators, while BJP and AAP have one seat each. The constituency has six assembly segments of Hoshiarpur district, two — Phagwara and Bholath — from Kapurthala district, and one Sri Hargobindpur from Gurdaspur.
A look at the constituency’s electoral history revealed that Hoshiarpur once had the Congress supremacy, which ended in 1996 when BSP’s Kanshi Ram break into it. After that, the constituency is electing parliamentarians from Congress and BJP correspondingly.
Out of these nine segments in 2017, BJP-SAD could win only Phagwara, represented by BJP’s Som Parkash. Bholath was won by AAP’s Sukhpal Khaira, who has now formed his own party, and the remaining seven were won by the Congress.
Demographics: Hoshiarpur segment can well be described in two Ds — Dalits and diaspora. The constituency has a sizeable number of Dalit voters, estimated to be 38 percent, with maximum belonging to Ravidassia community, besides the Valmikis, Sainis, Lubanas, and the Backward Classes.
Four assembly segments in the constituency — Chabbewal, Sham Chaurasi, Sri Hargobindpur and Phagwara — are reserved, while the remaining five, including Hoshiarpur, Dasuya, Mukerian, Urmar and Bholath, also have a sizeable number of Dalit voters.
In the wake of large scale unemployment, the youth from this section of the state are flying abroad in search of the greener pastures. Besides, a large part of this constituency comprises the Kandi belt, primarily having issues related to agriculture.
LAST ELECTION
Constituency witnessed elections in 2014 where SAD-BJP combine candidate Vijay Sampla threw a surprise by winning the seat in his first ever electoral fight with a margin of 13,582 votes defeating Congress’ candidate Mohinder Singh Kaypee. AAP’s candidate Yamini Gomar too got herself noticed by bagging 22 percent of the total votes polled.
Sampla has received 3,46,643 votes (36.05 percent of the total votes polled) against 3,33,061 (34.64 percent) votes casted for the runner up Kaypee. AAP’s Gomar bagged 2,13,388 votes.
LAST THREE MPs
2004: Avinash Rai Khanna (BJP)
2009: Santosh Chowdhary (Congress)
2014 : Vijay Sampla (BJP)