Lok Sabha polls 2024 | Report card: Poonam Maadam

In the first Lok Sabha election held in 1951, the seat was known as Halar, which is the name of one of the sub-regions of Saurashtra region of Gujarat.

Digvijaysinh was the last ruler of Nawanagar. His younger brother Himmatsinh, a major general in the British Indian Army who had fought in the two world wars and elder brother of Duleepsinh (after whom domestic tournament Duleep Trophy was named), won the inaugural election from the seat.

The constituency got its present name in 1967. In the election that year, Narayan Dandekar of Swatantra Party defeated Manubhai Shah, the Congress stalwart who had served as a minister in governments of Jawharlal Nehru and Lal Bahadur Shashtri. In 1971, Daultasinh Jadeja, nephew to Himmatsinh and grandson of Ranjitsinh’s brother Junvansinh, won Jamnagar seat on a Congress ticket.

Daulatsinh, father of cricketer Ajay Jadeja, lost the 1977 election to Bharatiya Lok Dal’s Vinod Sheth but avenged that defeat in 1980 by defeating Sheth. He won the seat in 1984 also but lost the 1989 election to BJP’s Chandresh Patel, a farmer hailing from Patidar community which dominates the seat numerically. Chandresh proved his mettle by defeating Urmila Patel, wife of then Gujarat Chief Minister Chiman Patel in 1991 Lok Sabha election while relegating Daultasinh, who was contesting as an independent to fourth position. He won 1995, 1998 and 1999 elections also.

But Congress again wrested this seat, which also included Devbhumi Dwarka district, back from BJP in 2004 when Vikram Madam, who hails from Ahir community, defeated Chandresh. Vikram retained the seat by defeating Ramesh Mungra of the BJP in 2009. However, in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Vikram was defeated by his niece Poonam Maadam after having defected to BJP from Congress in 2012. Poonam retained her seat in 2019 by defeating Mulu Kandoriya of Congress. Seeking a third straight term from Jamnagar, she is pitted against JP Maraviya of Congress this election.

Profile Overview

A fluent speaker of Gujarati, English and Hindi, Maadam boasts to be a world-traveller. She is the president of HR Maadam Trust, an NGO named after her late father Hemant Maadam. The nonprofit works in sectors like health, education, and farmers’ rights. She is also serving on the board of trustees of Ahir Kanya Chhatralaya, a girls hostel in Khambhalia town. She had joined BJP in 2012 and was elected MLA from Khambhalia seat.

Questions asked in Parliament

In her tenure from 2019 to 2024, Maadam, who is a commerce graduate, asked 287 questions pertaining to various government departments. Feb 24, 2024: Reliance Industries Limited’s oil refinery, India’s largest private oil refinery, as well as Nayara Energy’s oil refinery are located in Jamnagar. Maadam asked whether any amendments have been made in the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Rules and Regulations during the last five years and whether the government has taken any measures to enhance CSR activities of the companies and to ensure their compliance with CSR regulations.

Feb 2, 2024: Maadam raised the issue of education and sought to know whether the government has taken or proposed to take any steps to regulate the fees in medical colleges in the country.

Dec 15, 2023: Maadam asked whether the government has taken steps to foster female participation in various professions; whether the government is aware that women are under-represented in police, armed forces and other non-conventional sectors.

Dec 11, 2023: Maadam quizzed the government whether it had taken any measures to promote heritage tourism in the country, especially Gujarat and asked for details of the revenue generated through heritage tourism.

Dec 7, 2023: Maadam asked whether the government had taken any steps to monitor the quality of drinking water and whether it had carried out periodic tests to ascertain the quality of water in industrial regions.

Private members bills:

On August 4, 2023, Maadam moved a private member’s bill called the Wind Turbine and Solar Energy Waste (Handling, Disposal and Recycling) Bill, 2022 in Lok sabha.

Committees served

Maadam has served as a member of Lok Sabha committee on empowerment of women and public undertakings. She also served as a member of Lok Sabha committee on Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2022. She also served as a member of the Rajya Sabha committee on industry.