Chandigarh (Punjab): Clearly indicating that the odds are in favour of Charanjit Singh Channi as far as the party's Chief Minister face is concerned, Congress have fielded him from two constituencies -- Bhadaur and Chamkaur Sahib -- for the upcoming Assembly elections in Punjab. His arch-rival, Navjot Singh Sidhu is to contest from Amritsar East.
The decision of fielding Channi, a Dalit Sikh, from two seats seems to be aimed at fulfilling multiple political objectives. It is aimed at wooing the Dalit vote bank in the Malwa region. It was because of the support of the Dalit voters in Malwa, the Aam Admi Party (AAP) was successful in the region in the 2017 Assembly elections. About half of the AAP MLAs were Dalits. Keeping this in mind, AAP has declared Bhagwant Mann of Malwa as its Chief Ministerial candidate.
However, Channi's apparent rival for becoming the party's Chief Ministerial candidate, Sidhu has tough competition as the Shiromani Akali Dal has fielded Bikram Singh Majithia against him. Although Sidhu never directly asked the Congress High Command to declare him as the party's Chief Ministerial candidate, he repeatedly said at rallies that the people will decide the Chief Ministerial candidate.
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According to Congress sources, several senior leaders of the party have demanded from the High Command that Channi be declared as the Chief Ministerial candidate. Although Congress is yet to announce, Rahul Gandhi had hinted at a rally in Jalandhar that the party will announce the name soon.
Equations at Bhadaur
AAP's Pirmal Singh Dhaula won from the Bhadaur seat in 2017. He joined Congress along with Sukhpal Khaira. Although Dhaula wanted a Congress ticket, the party leadership turned him down and gave tickets to Sukhpal Khaira among other APP turncoats.
The electoral history of Bhadaur shows that from 1972 to 1985 Akali Dal has won this seat four times in a row and from 1997 to 2007 Congress has won three times. Due to factionalism among the local Congressmen, there was already speculation of an outside candidate and it would be a big challenge for Charanjit Singh Channi to take everyone along.
Equations at Chamkaur Sahib
As for the Chamkaur Sahib constituency, Channi has won the seat thrice, first as an Independent candidate and twice on Congress ticket. He will be pitted against AAP's Dr. Charanjit Singh. Channi won the seat in the last Assembly election with a margin of around 12,000 votes. At that time SAD-BJP alliance was in the third position.
This time the BJP is contesting the Assembly elections separately and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is in the fray in alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).To defeat Charanjit Singh Channi the AAP candidate would have to exceed the margin of victory of the last election.
