Big drubbing for Dalit heavyweights

Despite having the highest percentage of Dalit voters in the country, Dalit heavyweights in Punjab from Congress and SAD lost this year’s Assembly polls.

PPCC president S S Dullo who was fighting from Khanna lost to his SAD rival by 11,000 votes. Ch Jagjit Singh, a sitting senior Cabinet minister of Congress from Kartarpur, who has never lost an election before, was defeated by his SAD rival. His brother Ch Santokh Singh who was fighting from Phillaur on a Congress ticket also lost. Apart from them, Congress heavyweight and minister Mohinder Singh Kay Pee from Jalandhar South and Sardul Singh from Jandiala also lost.

In the Akali camp, the Dalit leaders who lost included former agriculture minister Gurdev Singh Badal who was contesting from Panjgrahian. Gurdev is related to SAD supremo P S Badal. Iqbal Inder Atwal who was fighting from Kumkalan and former Akali minister Gobind Singh Kangla who was contesting from Sherpur too lost.

Meanwhile, the BSP too have failed to win a single seat. The party’s decision to replicate the UP experiment of fielding a large number of upper caste candidates has boomeranged.