Can AAP, SAD dent Congress’s impact in Fatehgarh Sahib?

The battle for the Fatehgarh Sahib Lok Sabha seat has become intriguing with multiple candidates vying for the position, including a turncoat from the sitting MP's party.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded Gurpreet Singh GP, a former Congress leader, while sitting member of Parliament Amar Singh, a former IAS officer, is seeking to retain the seat (Congress) despite potential antiincumbency due to his alleged absence from the constituency.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has nominated Gejja Ram Valmiki, former chairman of the Punjab Safai Karamchari Commission, targeting the Hindu and SC vote banks.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) has chosen Bikramjit Singh Khalsa, a former MLA and son of former MP Basant Singh Khalsa, as their candidate.
The Fatehgarh Sahib seat, known as the land of martyrs, comprises Khanna, Samrala, Payal (SC reserved), Sahnewal and Raikot (SC) assembly segments of Ludhiana district, Amargarh segment of Malerkotla and Bassi Pathana (SC reserved), Fatehgarh Sahib and Amloh segments of Fatehgarh Sahib district.
Mandi Gobindgarh, Asia's iron and steel town, plays a crucial role in the political landscape, with industrialists wielding considerable influence.
AAP INFLUENCE AND ROW
The AAP swept all nine segments in the 2022 assembly elections, but later a controversy emerged when the Enforcement Directorate (ED) attached property worth Rs 35 crore of a company linked to AAP Amargarh MLA Jaswant Singh Gajjan Majra.
In the 2019 LS elections, the AAP had changed its candidate thrice — it announced the name of BS Chaunda, then Harbans Kaur Dullo, who was wife of then Congress Rajya Sabha MP Shamsher Singh Dullo, and finally it nominated their son Bandeep Singh Dullo, who lost the seat and remained at fourth position.

In the 2014 general elections, AAP candidate HS Khalsa won this seat.
In 2019, he joined the BJP in presence of party leader Arun Jaitley and since then Khalsa has marked his absence from Fatehgarh Sahib. Having 60.5% of Sikh vote and around 28% of SC vote and 3.3% of Muslim vote, the LS seat has also 0.3% each of Christian and Jain voters whereas Buddhists counts 0.04%. Although Fatehgarh Sahib is called a Panthic seat, it has remained a challenge for the Akali Dal that could not mark victory from here so far.
Iron and Steel Town: The political influence of industrialists of Mandi Gobindgarh, also known as Asia’s iron and steel town, cannot be ignored by the political parties and in the past the teams from central govt had also held meetings with the industrialists before coming up with the Union budget. Similarly, the state govt also keeps making efforts to uplift the industry for which meetings are held with associations.
2022 AAP Victory And Later: In the 2022 assembly elections, the AAP swept all the nine segments falling under this Lok Sabha seat including three reserved seats.
In Dec last year, the ED, in connection with the alleged bank fraud, attached the property worth Rs 35 crore of a company linked to AAP Amargarh MLA Majra who was detained by ED officials while holding a public meeting in Malerkotla. He was taken into custody under the PMLA case in Nov last year.
In the 2019 LS elections, Con gress's Amar Singh secured 42.3% of the vote share, followed by SAD (B)'s Darbara Singh Guru with 35.8%. AAP candidate Bandeep Singh Dullo received only 6.4% of the votes while Lok Insaaf Party’s Manwinder Singh Giaspura got only 14.6% vote share. In 2014, AAP’s Harinder Singh Khalsa got a lead of 5.2% vote share by bag ging 35.6% share whereas both Congress’s Sadhu Singh and SAD (B)’s Kulwant Singh got 30.4% and 30.3% vote share while BSP’s Sarabjeet Singh got 1.2% vote share. In 2009, Congress’s Sukhdev Singh got 47% vote share whereas SAD’s Charanjit Singh Atwal got 42.9% vote share and BSP’s Rai Singh got 7.8% share.
KNOW THE CANDIDATES
Gejja Ram Valmiki (BJP) Gejja Ram (67) of Sirhind Mandi, Fatehgarh Sahib is a former Congressman who was appointed chairman of the Punjab Raj Safai Karamchari Commission under Capt Amarinder govt in 2019. He had also remained in charge of the Congress for Jagraon assembly segment. Gejja was given cabinet rank under Channi govt too. He left the party in Feb this year and joined the BJP. Gejja is a matriculate from govt school in Bassi Pathana of Fatehgarh Sahib and owns Rs 6 lakh car loan, immovable property worth Rs 95 lakh and immoveable assets worth Rs 19.7 lakh and Rs 4.5 lakh in the name of his spouse.
Bikramjit Singh Khalsa (SAD-B) Bikramjit Singh (53) of Ludhiana is a two-time MLA from Dakha and Khanna assembly segments. He had also remained as chief parliamentary secretary from 2007-12 SAD-BJP govt in Punjab. He has also served as a member of the PPSC for six years. He is son of former SAD MP Basant Singh Khalsa who was elected in 1977 from Ropar LS seat then.
Gurpreet Singh GP (AAP) Former Congress MLA of 2017 from Bassi Pathana Gurpreet GP (53) of SAS Nagar is a grounded leader who joined the AAP this year and became candidate for this LS seat. In 2022 assembly elections, he lost to AAP’s Rupinder Happy and blamed former CM Charanjit Singh Channi for his defeat as Channi’s real brother Dr Manohar Singh who contested as an independent from Bassi Pathana and had even called Gurpreet as “not a suitable candidate”. GP was supported by Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Amar Singh (Congress) Sitting MP from Fatehgarh Sahib Amar Singh (70) of Raikot is an MBBS from GNDU Amritsar and MA Economics from Bhopal. He is a retired principal secretary to then Madhya Pradesh CM Digvijay Singh. In 2019, he defeated DS Guru, a former IAS officer, and principal secretary to Punjab CM late Parkash Singh Badal.