Multi-starrer show in hotbed of mining

IIllegal mining, dilapidated roads, lack of infrastructure, long-pending road projects and the status of a district for Anandpur Sahib that falls in Punjab’s Rupnagar district — these are set to remain key issues in the Anandpur Sahib parliamentary constituency.
Some of the major party candidates are also combating the tag of “outsider”.
The parliamentary segment had remained under the influence of the Congress or the SAD (B) for a long time.
However, in the 2022 assembly elections, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had an edge in seven out of nine assembly segments fall ing under this parliamentary seat.
The AAP represents the Garhshankar segment of Hoshiarpur district; Balachaur of SBS Nagar district; Kharar and SAS Nagar of SAS Nagar district; and Ropar, Chamkaur Sahib and Anandpur Sahib assembly seats of Ropar district whereas Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and BSP control Banga and Nawan Shahar of SBS Nagar district.
“Besides the illegal mining issue, there’s a lack of water for drinking and irrigation in the submountainous region. The deteriorated roads including Bunga – Garhshankar national highway and Anandpur Sahib – Naina Devi ropeway projects have been hanging fire for a long time.
The longpending demand of residents for a direct rail link from Anandpur Sahib to Amritsar is yet to be met. Though the constituency has the central institute IIT Ropar in its pocket, a lot needs to be done in the education sector,” said local Anandpur Sahib resident Jarnail Singh.
QUALIFICATION MATTERS
The seat will see the contest between highly qualified candidates of major political parties.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (B) had relied again on its senior party leader and former Anandpur Sahib MP Prem Singh Chandumajra who holds a master’s degree in economics and political science .The AAP has fielded its spokesperson Malwinder Singh Kang who is an MA (history) and an LLB.
The Congress has given ticket to former Sangrur MP Vijay Inder Singla instead of its sitting MP Manish Tewari who was eyeing it and got Congress ticket from Chandigarh seat. Singla holds an engineering degree.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Subhash Sharma, who is a PhD (Economics) from Punjabi University Patiala.
BSP candidate and party’s state president Jasvir Singh Garhi is an MA (public administration).SAD (A) candidate Kushal Pal Singh Mann also holds a BTech degree. This parliamentary seat comprises more than 42% Sikh population and around 31.3% SC population whereas the Muslim-population counts around two percent. The fight here had remained triangular between the candidates of SAD (B), Congress and the AAP since 2014 when the AAP had contested for the first time in general elections and won four seats from Punjab.
Among all nine segments under Anandpur Sahib Lok Sabha constituency, the AAP vote share had increased from 28.16% in 2014 general elections to 30.73% in 2017 Punjab assembly polls whereas it again slipped to 5% in 2019 parliamentary elections.
But, in the 2022 assembly polls, it recorded a high jump and reached 40.8% vote share.
The SAD (B) vote share went down from 37.32% in 2009 to 31.97% in 2014 whereas in 2019 it reached 35.8%.
Similarly, the voteshare witnessed by the Congress was 44.8% in 2009, 29.8% in 2014 and 40.3% in 2019 parliamentary polls. The BSP’s vote share too witnessed a downfall from 13.05% in 2009 to 6.36% in 2014. However, in 2019 it gained the ground and reached 13.8%. In the Anandpur Sahib parliamentary constituency, the AAP witnessed 28.2% and 5 (five)% vote share in 2014 and 2019 parliamentary polls whereas in 2022 assembly elections, its vote share has risen to 40.8%.
KNOW THE CANDIDATES
Vijay Inder Singla (Congress) Singla won Sangrur parliamentary seat in 2009, defeating then SAD-BJP’s candidate Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa. In 2014, he lost the battle to AAP's Bhagwant Mann. His father, Sant Ram Singla, was also a Congress MP and a minister in the first term of Capt Amarinder’s govt. He became education minister after winning Sangrur assembly seat in 2017 assembly polls. Singla lost his Sangrur seat in 2022 elections to AAP leader Narinder Kaur Bharaj. For 2024 parliamentary polls, he was eying a ticket from Sangrur or Patiala, but landed in Anandpur Sahib.
Subhash Sharma (BJP) RSS insider and former pracharak of ABVP, Amritsar resident Sharma has been living in Mohali for over a decade. He is contesting an election for the first time, although he anchored late Arun Jaitley’s 2014 LS contest in Amritsar. In 2019, he anchored the contest for Som Parkash in Hoshiarpur. Sharma remained a national office-bearer in ABVP, whereas his wife is an RSS fulltimer and national secretary of ABVP. Having good ties with BJP central leadership, Sharma has remained BJP Punjab general secretary and vicepresident.
Malwinder Singh Kang (AAP) AAP chief spokesperson Kang who hails from Mohali and is contesting parliamentary elections for the first time has earlier remained part of BJP core committee. However, in 2020 he resigned from the BJP following implementation of three controversial farm laws that were later repealed by the central govt a year after farmers’ agitation. Before joining politics, Kang remained elected president of Panjab University Student Union (PUSU) and also elected member of Senate Panjab University Chandigarh.
Prem Singh Chandumajra (SAD) Chandumajra saw his journey from student activism to politics after he was appointed Youth Akali Dal’s first chief by the then SAD president H S Longowal. An MA economics and political science, Chandumajra was elected MLA from Dakala (Patiala) in 1985 and became a minister. In 2004, he joined SAD splinter group SAD (Longowal) and later became in chief. In 2007, he merged his group back into SAD. He beat Cong’s Sant Ram Singla in 1996 and Capt Amarinder Singh in 1998. He won from Anandpur Sahib in 2014.
Jasvir Singh Garhi (BSP) Jasvir, 44, a resident of Garhi village in Balachaur, contested elections for first time in 2022 assembly polls from Phagwara segment as a joint candidate of SAD-BSP. After 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Garhi was elevated as Punjab BSP chief in 2020. With his party getting 13.54% votes from the seat in 2019, Jasvir could play the spoiler in the multi-cornered contest of Anandpur Sahib