Congress Khadoor Sahib MP Jasbir Singh Gill not to contest Lok Sabha polls

Gill put out a post on the X website on Monday, along with a photo with Congress general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal, state Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa. It read, “The beginning of new journey”.

When contacted, Gill told The Indian Express, “An MP does not have much to do. As an MP I did the best of what I could do. I am interested in state politics.” He added: “It is my personal choice and has nothing to do with any surveys.”

The Congress announced candidates for six out of the 13 Lok Sabha seats in the state on Sunday. Khadoor Sahib, considered a panthic seat, is among the seven seats for which the party is yet to declare candidates.

Gill was elected as an MLA on a Congress ticket in 2002 from the erstwhile Beas constituency (later renamed as Baba Bakala). He lost the subsequent Assembly election in 2007, followed by a defeat in the 2012 elections, where he contested the Amritsar South seat. In 2019 he was elected as MP for Khadoor Sahib, where he defeated his nearest rival, Jagir Kaur of the Shiromani Akali Dal, by more than 1.4 lakh votes.

With Gill no longer in the race for the Congress ticket from the constituency, the focus is on former Zira MLA Kulbir Singh Zira, former Khemkaran MLA Sukhpal Singh Bhullar and Kapurthala MLA from Rana Gurjeet Singh and his son Rana Inder Partap Singh, who won the 2022 Assembly elections as an independent from Sultanpur Lodhi after being denied a Congress ticket.

Rana Gurjeet’s family has been vying for the Congress ticket for Anandpur Sahib, whose sitting MP Manish Tewari has been fielded from Chandigarh this time. A senior Congress leader said that the family was fine with contesting the polls from Khadoor Sahib, but its first choice was Anandpur Sahib.

The Congress is likely to consider caste dynamics while deciding its Anandpur Sahib candidate. If the party opts to go for a Hindu face, former Assembly speaker Rana KP Singh will be one of the frontrunners for the ticket.

Zira, one of the leading contenders for the Khadoor Sahib ticket, is also an aspirant for the Congress ticket for the Ferozepur constituency, where former MP Sher Singh Ghubaya is also among the frontrunners.

Punjab will vote on June 1 in the last phase of the Lok Sabha elections.