Undeterred by the allegations and Opposition by local leaders, the Congress party on Thursday decided to field Hardev Singh laddi Sherowalia as its candidate for Shahkot assembly bypoll, scheduled for May 28.
The party has once again reposed its faith on Sherowalia, who unsuccessfully contested 2017 elections against SAD’s Ajit Singh Kohar, notwithstanding the allegations of mining against him
If that is not enough, as much as five senior leaders of the constituency have already expressed their opposition to Sherowalia’s nomination for the election, while making it clear that they would not support him but a “non-controversial” candidate.
Sherowalia, known to be a close aide of former Power Minister Rana Gurjit Singh who had to step down following the illegal sand mining Allegations against him, is said to have complete backing of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh.
The bye-election to the Shahkot assembly constituency seat was necessitated following SAD MlA Kohar’s demise. In 2017, Sherowalia lost to Kohar by 4500 votes, and this time, he is facing challenge by Kohar’s son — Naib Singh Kohar — whose candidature was already declared by the SAD.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is yet to declare its candidate, and is expected to announce the same by this week.
Sherowalia, the general secretary of the Punjab Congress unit, recently came under fire after his 13-minute video clip, showing him allegedly demanding a share from sand mining contractors to extract sand from the quarry allocated in Kaimvala village, went viral.
The video clip, reportedly recorded in November last year, was released by one Jasveer Singh, owner of six acre land where the quarry has been allotted in Kaimvala village.
Notably, five Congress leaders — former Minister Brij Bhupinder lally, party spokesperson Navjot Dahiya, general secretary Rajanbir Singh, District Congress Committee (Rural) president Capt Harminder Singh and district farmer cell in-charge Puran Singh Thind — were also contenders from the seat, and had passed a resolution to appeal to the high command to give a ticket to a “non-controversial candidate”.
Ahead 2019 lok Sabha polls, Shahkot assembly elections hold significance as a popularity test for the one-year-old Capt Amarinder Government and the Congress party in Punjab.
But, with Congress high command announcing Sherowalia’s candidature, revolt is likely.
Meanwhile, Sherowalia thanked the high command for showing faith in him, while dubbing the “sting operation” as a “conspiracy” against him.
NO NOMINATION ON DAY ONE
Chandigarh: With the issuance of notification for Shahkot by-poll, the process of filing nomination has also commenced but no one has turned up to filed nominations on day one. Chief Electoral Officer’s spokesperson said that nomination could be filed till May 10 and the voting would take place on May 28. The result would be declared on May 31.