SAD picks Banga legislator Dr Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi for Jalandhar bypoll

Tribune News Service

Deepkamal Kaur

Jalandhar, April 11

The Shiromani Akali Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party (SAD-BSP) combine on Tuesday announced Akali MLA from Banga Dr Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi (62) as its candidate for the May 10 Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll.

The announcement was made by SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and BSP’s Punjab president Jasvir Singh Garhi. Dr Sukhi is one of the three MLAs the SAD has in the 117-member Punjab Assembly. Hailing from Gunachaur village in Nawanshahr, he won from Banga in 2017 and 2022. His Assembly seat falls outside Jalandhar in the Anandpur Sahib parliamentary constituency. An ENT specialist, he runs his own hospital in Nawanshahr.

The names of SAD’s Scheduled Caste leaders and former MLAs Pawan Kumar Tinu and Baldev Khaira had also been doing the rounds, but the party chose to go with Dr Sukhi. All three of them began their career with the BSP, but switched to the Akali Dal over the past two decades.

The SAD was learnt to be keen on fielding Tinu as he had contested from Jalandhar in 2014 Lok Sabha poll and knew the constituency well. Ally BSP, however, expressed reservations over his name, said sources. As Khaira had defeated BSP’s former Punjab president Avtar Singh Karimpuri from Phillaur in 2017, his name too had little acceptance in the BSP.

Sources said Sukhbir, upon the intervention of a few Akali leaders, including Gurpartap Wadala and Sikander Singh Maluka, had been mulling making its ex-minister Sarwan Singh Phillaur rejoin the party and field him as the candidate, but Khaira was opposed to the move. Finally, Dr Sukhi emerged as the unanimous candidate.

As SAD’s opponents questioned why the party couldn’t field someone belonging to Jalandhar, Sukhbir said, “In the Lok Sabha, we need a representative who can effectively raise issues concerning the constituency and Punjab. Dr Sukhi can aptly do so. His native place hardly matters.”

2-term legislator

• Dr Sukhwinder Sukhi won from Banga in 2017 and 2022
• An ENT specialist, he runs his own hospital in Nawanshahr
• His seat Banga falls in the Anandpur Sahib parliamentary constituency

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