The keenly watched electoral contest between Congress’s Navjot Singh Sidhu and Shiromani Akali Dal’s Bikram Singh Majithia in Amritsar (East) constituency in the coming Assembly election looks all set to go down the wire as the constituency is witnessing a multi-cornered fight.
The constituency’s electoral battle came to the limelight after Mr. Majithia, a former Minister, announced to take on Mr. Sidhu and decided not to contest from his home constituency – Majitha. Both have been exchanging sharp words on public platforms against each other, especially on the drugs menace that had plagued Punjab for years.
Mr. Sidhu is currently the MLA from the constituency, which in 2017 he won by a margin of over 40,000 votes. While he could be seen facing a stiff challenge from Mr. Majithia, the other key candidates - Aam Aadmi Party’s Jeevanjot Kaur and BJP’s former IAS officer Jagmohan Singh Raju are also well within the race.
As the voting day nears, several voters in the constituency believe that the entry of Mr. Majithia has spiced up the electoral battle, and against the backdrop of anti-incumbency against the ruling party, the going could get tough for the cricketer-turned-politician Mr. Sidhu.
Predictions of locals
At the popular Valmiki ‘chowk’ on the Hussainpura Shivala road of the constituency, a small group of locals is enjoying the sun as they discuss electoral politics. Ranjit Singh, a granthi (priest) at a local gurdwara is confident that Mr. Majithia has an edge in the election. “Majithia has left his home seat to come here [Amritsar] to defeat Sidhu. The way the Akalis are canvassing, it seems the fight will be a close one. I have a hunch Majithia is ahead of others in the race. Also, during the last five years Mr. Sidhu was hardly seen among the people here, which is also a big factor going against him,” he says.
Manjinder Singh, an auto-rickshaw owner, is not amused by the sitting MLA’s performance. He feels nothing much was done on the development front. “Several roads continue to be in bad shape, the sewerage system is in poor shape and traffic congestion is another problem that I encounter daily. Nothing much has changed in the last five years. I am going to vote for a change this time. There’s an atmosphere in favour of the AAP,” asserts the 40-year-old Mr. Singh.
A tea seller around the corner of the road, says that while the focus of the election is the fight between Mr. Sidhu and Mr. Majithia, yet there’s a ‘noise’ about the AAP as well. “Sidhu will get votes but with Majithia in the fray definitely the contest could be a close one. The AAP candidate is also posing a stiff fight here,” he adds.
On the Jalandhar-Amritsar road, a vehicle spare parts shop owner, requesting anonymity, notes that the performance of the Congress and the local MLA were below par on his expectations. “Building flyovers in the name of development is one thing, but what I and my children want are employment and jobs. Big factories should have been built here in the past five years, which sadly didn’t happen,” he says.
