First non-Sikh MP from city

By winning the Ludhiana Lok Sabha seat,Congress candidate Manish Tewari has created a history of sorts by becoming the first Hindu Member of Parliament (MP) from the city. So far,all the 14 predecessors of Tewari have been Sikhs. Interestingly,both Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Congress did not pose much faith in Hindu candidates. Earlier,Congress had given party ticket to Joginder Pal Pandey in 1984 but he had lost to Mewa Singh Gill of SAD by a narrow margin. Though BJP had been fielding their candidates prior to their alliance with SAD,all nominees had failed to open their accounts in the city. In 1996,when SAD and BJP did not have a poll alliance,BJP had given a ticket to Sat Pal Gosain,who though managed to get about one lakh votes but could not register a win. In 2004,Congress gave a ticket to Manish Tewari but he had lost to SAD’s Sharanjit Singh Dhillon by nearly 30,000 votes. This time when Congress again posed faith in Tewari,political circles were abuzz with whispers that whether the jinx will be broken this time. And Tewari proved his detractors wrong.