As elections near,political parties have begun targeting the scheduled caste vote-bank in the state. On Thursday,Animal Husbandary Minister Gulzar Singh Ranike urged the SC wing of the Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) to gear up and actively pursue Dalits in the state. In Ferozepur to chair a meeting of the SADs scheduled caste wing,Ranike stated that more that 35 per cent of the states population comprised of Dalits and if the scheduled tribe and backward class categories were added,they would total half of Punjabs population and would be a decisive factor in the forthcoming elections. Elections are in the final gear,so we need to awaken the SC population. After the latest census,SC voters have increased a lot. The entire clock revolves around them, Ranike said. The main thrust of the meeting was to tell our workers to awaken the masses about various social welfare initiatives like the shagun scheme,widow pension,old age pension,scholarships for SC students and much more, he added. SAD workers claim that previous poll analysis have shown that general category voters hardly come out of their houses to vote ans so they need to work hard to woo the other category workers. Joginder Singh Jindu,president of SAD SC wing,Ferozepur said: Elections are just two months away. So we need to start our work now. We will also be going in large numbers to attend the state level rally to be held in Moga on December 18. More than 20,000 of our workers will attend this rally,because the CM has stated that special mention will be on dalit voters
