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Oct

Punjab: November 13 byelections will go down as a watershed event

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Prabhjot Singh

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Toronto, Canada | Wednesday | 30 October 2024

When the electors in four assembly segments of Dera Baba Nanak, Chabbewal, Barnala and Gidderbaha vote on November 13 to elect their new legislators as replacements for those elected to Lok Sabha, it will go down in the political history of Punjab as a watershed event.

Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal, Mr Gurmeet Singh Meet Hyer and Mr Amrinder Singh Raja Warring – all sitting MLAs  were elected to Lok Sabha during the last general elections held in June. Byelections to seats vacated by them are scheduled to be held on November 13.

It will be only for the second time that an electoral battle would be fought without the participation of the country’s oldest regional party, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). Earlier the SAD had boycotted the general elections in February, 1992, in protest against the last minute cancellation of  the 1991 elections.

 

Article at a Glance

On November 13, voters in four assembly segments of Punjab—Dera Baba Nanak, Chabbewal, Barnala, and Gidderbaha—will participate in significant byelections to fill seats vacated by MLAs who were elected to the Lok Sabha.
This electoral battle is notable as it marks the second instance in which the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Punjab's oldest regional party, will not participate, following a directive labeling its president, Sukhbir Singh Badal, as "tankhayya." The byelections are particularly crucial for the Gidderbaha seat, historically a stronghold for the Badal family.
The Congress party has nominated Amrita Warring, wife of the former MLA, while the BJP has announced candidates for three of the four seats. This political landscape reflects a shift in Punjab's coalition politics, with major parties like the BJP and AAP vying for dominance in a changing environment.

 

This time the reason for staying away from the by polls is different. Directive of the Jathedars of five Takhts declaring the party President Sukhbir Singh Badal as “tankhayya” may be the immediate provocation for the party’s Core Committee to decide to stay out of the November 13 battle of the ballot.

The decision assumes extraneous political significance as the action shifts to the prestigious Gidderbaha seat that had traditionally been the stronghold of the Dal in general and the Badal family in particular.

Much before the dates for the byelections were announced, all major political parties, including SAD, had launched their reach out programmes. Sukhbir Badal was active in the constituency before his close aide and one-time favourite for this seat, Hardeep Singh aka Dimpy Dhillon, revolted and quit his primary membership of the Dal. A few days later he joined the State’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party before being declared its official candidate.

Since the seat was declared vacant after the incumbent Amrinder Singh aka as Raja Warring was declared elected to Lok Sabha from the Ludhiana Parliamentary seat. Congress has now nominated his wife, Amrita Warring, as its candidate for the November 13 by poll.

Punjab that once pioneered coalition politics in the country has now taken the lead in saying goodbye to alliances. After parting ways with its traditional partner Shiromani Akal, the Bhartiya Janta Party, contested the last Lok Sabha elections on its own. To further its political appetite, it is now trying to test “free waters” of the border State.

By announcing to contest the next assembly elections on its own, its ambition has been fuelled further by unexpected flow into its fold top leadership from both Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal.

The BJP has also announced its candidates for three of the four assembly seats for which byelections will be held on November 13. The foremost of these seats is Guidderbaha where it has fielded the second most eligible candidate from the Badal clan, Manpreet Singh, in anticipation that after departure of Dimpy Dhillon, Sukhbir Badal may jump into the fray.

No party could visualise that the Jathedars who have been waiting to pronounce the “tankhah” (religious punishment) to Sukhbir Badal, would prohibit him from any political activity till they pronounce their verdict as all  attempts by the SAD leadership to convince them  for early pronouncement failed.

These “failed” attempts also saw Virsa Singh Valtoha,  a trusted lieutenant of Sukhbir Singh Badal, earning the wrath of the Jathedars. He was ordered to quit primary membership of the Dal and stay away from it for next 10 years.

Gauging the mood of the Jathedars, the Core Committee of the Dal, decided to stay away from the November 13 byelections thus leaving the field open for the other three parties – AAP, BJP and Congress.

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