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Diverse voter expectations in Gurdaspur & cane of worms

THE uniqueness of the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat lies in its heterogeneity. This can be seen as much in its people, who come from diverse religions and dialectic groups, as from its geographical terrain. This Lok Sabha constituency has nine Assembly seats.

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Neeraj Bagga

THE uniqueness of the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat lies in its heterogeneity. This can be seen as much in its people, who come from diverse religions and dialectic groups, as from its geographical terrain.

This Lok Sabha constituency has nine Assembly seats.

Gurdaspur, Batala and Pathankot are its urban pockets, while Bhoa (reserved), Dina Nagar (reserved), Sujanpur, Qadian, Fatehgarh Churian and Dera Baba Nanak are rural.

Qadian is known for its Ahmadiya Muslim population, while Fatehgarh Churian and Dera Baba Nanak are Jat Sikh-dominated areas. Pathankot and Sujanpur have a sizeable population of Dogri-speaking people. 

No wonder the diversity gives rise to a vast variety of expectations of the electorate from the political class. With the general election around the corner, voters have become upfront about various issues concerning them. If ensuring proper procurement of their produce is the main concern of farmers, voters in urban areas can be seen talking about unemployment, lack of support for private entrepreneurs, need to improve infrastructure and plight of age-old iron and foundry industry.

Inderjit Singh, a farmer from Nawapind Shawer, rued the tardy procurement of sugarcane and delayed release of payments.

This season, farmers in this area are expected to produce around 90 lakh tonnes of sugarcane, but the three sugar mills located here have a crushing capacity of only 12.5 lakh tonnes. Moreover, these sugar mills have so far not cleared around Rs 85-crore dues of farmers for the previous crushing season. “This happens almost every other year, and we have to go to sugar mills in other districts, where we have to face opposition from local farmers,” Inderjit Singh said.

Bhola Singh of Phulpur village said there was a need to increase the crushing capacity of sugar mills and set up some new ones. He is, however, happy that the Centre has introduced the provision of an annual cash incentive of Rs 6,000 for marginal farmers.

Since Punjab has a Congress government and the Centre is ruled by the BJP-led NDA, political differences between the two have hit overall development in the constituency.

Rakesh Kumar from Avankha village said differences had led to stalling of a number of projects here. “BJP leaders got a bridge approved over the Ravi at Makore Pattan village, but the project remains stalled as it requires a nod from the state government. At present, a rickety temporary bridge is the only link with the rest of the country,” he said.

In Dinanagar, shopkeeper Ramesh Kumar accused the BJP government of not being able to keep its poll promises. “No black money has been brought back, nor was the promised Rs 15 lakh credited to the accounts of the poor. So, Modi is no longer my favourite leader,” he said.

Shivraj Singh of Gurdaspur district said employment opportunities were limited, so many people were migrating to developed countries. Those who could not afford to do so are either opening small shops or taking to drugs out of frustration. Senior citizen Pushpa Devi also backed his statement. “The only big industrial unit here — Dhariwal Woollen Mill — is lying closed for almost a decade now,” she said.

Batala’s famous cast iron and foundry industry is now looking towards the government to restore its lost glory. Industrialist Subhash Goel said almost 400 units (out of the total 1,000) have closed down over the past few years. “This was like a cottage industry, but in absence of an anchor unit, it is collapsing. We will vote for a candidate who promises to redress our grievances,” he said.


Total voters  15,22,000 

Male  8,09,923 

Female  7,12,077


Incumbent MP

Sunil Kumar Jakhar of Congress became the MP from the Gurdaspur parliamentary constituency after winning the byelection in 2017, necessitated by the death of Vinod Khanna. He polled 4,99,752 votes while BJP’s Swaran Salaria was runner-up with 3,06,553 votes and AAP’s Suresh Khajuria stood third with 23,579 votes.


Constituency composition

Seven of the nine Assembly seats in this parliamentary constituency are represented by Congress and one each by Akali Dal and BJP


Likely contenders

  • From Congress, Sunil Kumar Jakhar is the only prominent contender so far
  • Kavita Khanna, widow of Vinod Khanna, and Swaran Salaria are staking claim to the BJP ticket
  • AAP and new entrant SAD (Taksali) are likely to field their candidates. However, these parties are yet to activate their working in these areas
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