Badal (Lambi), May 24
Even though it is the native village of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, this Malwai village has mostly sided with Maheshinder Singh, Chief Minister’s cousin and rival.

However, it seems now the trend has changed. Badal’s candidate is set to become the sarpanch of the village even as seven other panchayat members sponsored by the family have been elected unopposed. Maheshinder, who had fought the last Assembly election against Badal on Congress ticket and lost by only around 8,000 votes, may have to be content with only one loyalist in the nine-member village panchayat.

Though this change in fortunes has been helped by the fact that all seven Congress candidates, who had gone to file their nominations on the final day got late in filing their papers, there is another factor also. This is the role of the Chief Minister’s wife Surinder Kaur Badal who is coordinating the entire campaign on behalf of the family.

Baljinder Singh, an Akali worker, who is campaigning for the candidature of Sukhdev Singh, a tailor, said there was a feeling that Dalits had been somewhat ignored in the past. He said this time around Surinder Badal was taking personal interest and had also given directions to her OSD S.S. Sekhon to look into election affairs in her absence.

Dalit candidate Sukhdev, when asked what he would do in case he was elected sarpanch, said talks were on with the Badal family, which had promised to help repair kutcha homes in the village. He said names of unemployed Dalit youth had been submitted for consideration for the posts of conductor.

Only one Congress candidate, Bhajna Ram could file his papers in time along with Ram Krishna, his cousin and covering candidate.