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Journalism of Courage
Congress MP from Jalandhar Santokh Singh Chaudhary, 76, passed away due to cardiac arrest during party leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra Saturday. Chaudhary was accompanying the yatra in the Phillaur area of Jalandhar district which falls in his Lok Sabha constituency.
Chaudhary is survived by his wife Karamjit Kaur, former principal of Government Sports College Jalandhar, and son Vikramjit Singh who is the current MLA from Phillaur.
A two-time MP from Jalandhar (2014 and 2019), Chaudhary contested seven elections including two Lok Sabha polls and five Vidhan Sabha elections. He was in the fray for the Assembly elections in 1992, 1997, 2002, 2007 and 2012, and won thrice. He was a minister in the Congress governments formed in 1992 and 2002.
In Jalandhar, Chaudhary defeated his arch-rival Charanjit Singh Atwal of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) with a margin of 19,491 votes in 2019 when he secured 3,85,712 votes or 37.85% of the vote share.
Family with rich political legacy
Belonging to a family with a long and rich political legacy, Chaudhary was the son of former Punjab agriculture minister Master Gurbanta Singh and the brother of former local government minister Chaudhary Jagjit Singh. His son Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary is the family’s 16th representation in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, which also happens to be the state’s 16th Assembly.
Master Gurbanta Singh was a seven-time MLA and last won an election in 1972 when he was elected unopposed. Chaudhary Jagjit Singh was a five-time MLA, whereas Santokh Singh Chaudhary won thrice and Jagjit’s son Chaudhary Surinder Singh was elected to the Assembly once.
