Gidderbaha bypolls: A constituency of stalwarts in Punjab clamouring for basic facilities
Elections were necessitated in this constituency after Amrinder Singh Raja Warring of the Congress won from Ludhiana Lok Sabha constituency, defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Ravneet Singh Bittu with a margin of over 20,000 votes.
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Amrita Warring is the Congress candidate this time while the BJP's candidate is Manpreet Singh Badal. (X)Gidderbaha is a key constituency that is heading for bypolls. Amrinder Singh Raja Warring of the Congress had won it in 2022, with a narrow margin of 1,349 votes, defeating Hardeep Singh Dimpy Dhillon of the SAD. The latter is now the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate. Warring is the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president at present.
Elections were necessitated in this constituency after Warring won from Ludhiana Lok Sabha constituency, defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Ravneet Singh Bittu with a margin of over 20,000 votes. His wife Amrita Warring is the Congress candidate this time while the BJP’s candidate is Manpreet Singh Badal, who had switched over from the Congress in January 2023.
Manpreet is the nephew of former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. The constituency has a rich history of making political careers of stalwarts such as 5-time CM Parkash Singh Badal along with that of Manpreet and Warring. Parkash Singh Badal had lost his first election from Gidderbaha in 1967 to Congress’s Harcharan Singh Brar with a narrow margin of 57 votes. Later on, he won consecutively in 1969, 1972, 1977, 1980 and 1985 polls. Brar went on to become the 13th CM of Punjab.
Gidderbaha is considered a constituency of VVIP candidates.
In 1992, Akali Dal had boycotted Assembly polls due to which Congress’s Raghubir Singh had won. In 1995 bypolls, Manpreet started his political journey, winning on a Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) ticket – a feat he went on to repeat in 1997, 2002 and 2007. Badal senior had vacated this seat for him as he began contesting from Lambi.
From 2012, Congress’s Amarinder Singh Raja Warring started his political journey from Gidderbaha as he won consecutively in 2012, 2017 and 2022. Manpreet, who had formed the People’s Party of Punjab, had, however, lost from Gidderbaha in 2012. Later on, he switched to Bathinda urban constituency.
It is after 12 years that Manpreet has come back to his parent constituency, but on a different poll symbol. This constituency comes under Muktsar district but is in Faridkot Lok Sabha constituency. In the past, it was represented by Sukhbir Singh Badal in 1996, 1998 and 2004 and former PPCC president Jagmeet Singh Brar in 1991 and 1999 Lok Sabha.
Long wait for basic facilities
Gidderbaha is considered a constituency of VVIP candidates. Its MLAs, Harcharan Singh Brar and Parkash Singh Badal, became the CMs of Punjab while Manpreet Singh Badal became the finance minister and Amarinder Singh Raja Warring the transport minister. Besides, the constituency gave PPCC its president after the 2022 polls. Still, the constituency is devoid of many basic facilities.
Residents of the area sat on a hunger strike for over a month demanding a railway over bridge in the city. This dharna was lifted on October 24. Poor sanitation is a common problem in the area as water logging is a frequent occurrence after every spell of rainfall. The constituency is predominantly rural as it has 42 villages and Gidderbaha town area. This constituency has been named after village Gidderbaha, which has a population of about 22,000 and has only one primary school till date. The municipal council of Gidderbaha has no garbage dump of its own and it travels about 10 km daily to dump garbage at a location on Malout road.
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