Chabbewal bypoll: Candidates make all out efforts to woo SAD voters
The Chabbewal Assembly by-election scheduled for November 20 has become interesting with the absence of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) from the poll fray for the first time.
All parties, except the SAD, have fielded candidates. Interestingly, all of them are contesting from parties which they have vehemently opposed earlier. As a result, the mathematics of vote bank might become a bit complicated this time. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Dr Ishaan Chabbewal’s father Dr Raj Kumar, a two-time Congress MLA, is presently the AAP MP.
Congress candidate Ranjit Kumar was in the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for a long time. He had contested the last Lok Sabha election on the BSP ticket. He is confident of getting support from his old friends from the BSP-dominated areas.
On the other hand, the BJP candidate Sohan Singh Thandal was a minister in the Akali-BJP-led state government. He remained with the SAD for more than two decades. He contested the recent Lok Sabha elections on the SAD ticket. He suddenly left the party and joined the BJP.
Besides traditional vote bank of their respective parties, all candidates are eyeing the votes of SAD, which made its strong presence felt during the Lok Sabha elections and the Assembly polls in 2022. While Thandal is battling on the anti-BJP sentiment that intensified after the farmers’ movement, Dr Raj Kumar and Ranjit Kumar are trying every trick to woo SAD voters.
In the 2022 Assembly elections, the BJP got 4,073 votes. Its vote share increased to 9,472 in the Lok Sabha polls held this year. Similarly, SAD got 19,329 votes in the Assembly polls held in 2022, which decreased to 11,935 during the recent Lok Sabha elections.
Dr Raj Kumar got 47,375 votes in these elections. During the Lok Sabha elections after Dr Raj Kumar joined the AAP, Congress candidate Yamini Gomar could garner only 18,162 votes. The AAP, which got 39,729 votes from Chabbewal in 2022 polls, managed to get 28,955 votes in the Lok Sabha elections.
During the Lok Sabha elections, a big change was witnessed in the vote percentage of the parties. If this trend continues in the Assembly by-election, then traditional vote bank of the SAD, which is not contesting the bypoll, is likely to play a big role in the election results.
