Punjab poll 2022: In Bathinda Urban, silent voter holds the key

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Bathinda, February 10

As campaigning heats up for the Assembly poll in Punjab, the silent voters hold the key in the multi-cornered contest for Bathinda Urban seat.

AAP, BJP candidates are ex-Congress leaders

• Congress’s Manpreet Badal seeking re-election here
• Ex-Cong leaders Jagroop Gill and Raj Nambardar fielded by AAP, BJP
• Former MLA Sarup Singla contesting on SAD ticket
• Defection of leaders has left the voter perplexed

The defection of leaders to rival camps to fight poll has left the average voter perplexed and disillusioned.

Congress senior minister Manpreet Badal is seeking re-election from here. Sitting senior councillor Jagroop Singh Gill, who quit the Congress to join AAP, is now contesting as AAP candidate against his former party colleague Manpreet. Similarly, Raj Nambardar, who also left the Congress, is contesting as BJP candidate from here. Former MLA Sarup Chand Singla is contesting on SAD ticket from this seat.

The Congress has held sway in the city with the support of Hindu votes and its traditional supporters. However, the BJP’s entry this time is threatening to wean away a major chunk of the Hindu votes, which could hit both the Congress and SAD’s prospects. Manpreet Badal is banking on the development done by him in the past five years. At public meetings, he has been highlighting the upgrading and renovation of government schools and the Rs 400 crore spent on the development of the city. His opponents, however, target him for not fulfilling the promise to restart the Bathinda thermal plant and regularise contractual staff.

AAP’s Jagroop Singh Gill mentions drugs, unemployment and waterlogging as the major issues in the city as he assures that they would be resolved if his party comes to power. SAD’s Sarup Singla is promising to make Bathinda No. 1 city in the state by providing employment to youth and creating more educational facilities, while Raj Nambardar is talking of poor law and order and corruption in the city. He has kept “Na Dar Na Bhrashtachar, Is Bar Raj Nambardar” as his poll slogan. The hesitancy of the common man to share their political preference ahead of Assembly elections is palpable here. Except the odd voice here and there, there’s an army of silent voters. From bus stops to tea stalls, from glittery markets to local parks, from trains to eateries, the political debates are missing.

At the same time, the silence does not seem too hard to accept. Since most voters are unsure of the final outcome, they prefer to be silent. They don’t want to be caught on the wrong side when the results are out, says a political observer.