AAP’s Punjab faces: 10 candidates, little means, high optimism

The 10 least affluent candidates from among the three major parties are all from AAP, most of them first-timers, many of them Dalits, and all pitted against wealthy SAD-BJP and Congress rivals. What they lack in funds, however, they make up for in optimism.

For Pandhuri, the issue of drugs comes foremost. “The Congress government was responsible for compulsory sterilisation in the 1970s, the Akali government is responsible for sterilisation of Sikhs through drugs,” alleged Pandhuri, who is pitted against former SAD MLA Balvir Singh Ghunas and the Congress’s Nirmal Singh Nimma.

The least affluent of the 10 is Rupinder Kaur, 27, from Bathinda Rural, with just under Rs 1.75 lakh. She is doing a PhD after completing LLM. Daughter of a retired government employee, she joined AAP in 2013 and thanks party volunteers for their financial and moral support. She promises to fight against cancer in the Malwa belt, youngsters dying of drug abuse, and corruption. Her Congress opponent is former banker Harvinder Singh Ladi and SAD first-timer Amit Rattan, husband of IPS officer Sanmeet Kaur.

In Bhadaur (SC) is Parimal Singh, son of a retired driver, with assets of Rs 3.02 lakh. Parimal, 36, said his election is being funded by AAP volunteers and NRIs from Canada, Australia and Dubai. Parimal, who has passed XII, worked for a year with Punjab State Power Corporation Limited as lineman before being sacked following an agitation in 2013. “I have been part of the Anna Hazare movement and also worked as an AAP volunteer during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections,” Parimal said. He said people want a local MLA and described his rivals — sitting Congress MLA Harchand Kaur and SAD’s Ajeet Singh Shant — as being from elsewhere.

Baljinder Kaur, 31, a former English lecturer at Mata Gujri College in Fatehgarh Sahib, is contesting Talwandi Sabo. She has an MPhil (English) degree. Her assets are worth Rs 3.66 lakh. She lost a bypoll from the same constituency in 2014. Her focus is on ending the drug menace and empowering women. Her opponents are three-time sitting MLA Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu (SAD) and Khushbaaz Singh Jatana (Congress).

Jaswinder Singh Jahangir, 39, quit a government job as primary teacher last August after 10 years of service to join AAP. He is now the candidate in the border constituency of Attari. He is among the 10 least affluent candidates from among the three main parties, with Rs 12.74 lakh. “My wife, who is also a teacher, and I were part of an agitation against hiring government teachers on contract. We were put behind bars for agitating in front of the education minister’s bungalow,” said Jahangir, whose father too is a retired teacher.

The former vice-president of the ETT Union talks about the poor quality of education and health, and makes allegations of corruption against his main opponent, sitting SAD MLA Gulzar Singh Ranike, minister. The Congress candidate is Tarsem Singh.

Former sanitary inspector, sarpanch, kirtan singer

Chander Kumar Grewal, 47, has declared Rs 13.03 lakh and is just outside the bottom 10. Son of a class-IV government employee, he is the AAP candidate for Kartarpur (SC) in Jalandhar. Grewal, who got a job on compassionate grounds 26 years ago after his father’s death, resigned as sanitary inspector last year. “My fight is against unemployment and corruption. The furniture industry in Kartarpur is in the doldrums. There is an unending list of issues,” said Grewal, facing first-timers Satpal Mall (SAD, formerly Congress) and Surinder Chaudhary (Congress, son of late Dalit leader Chaudhary Jagjit Singh, five-time MLA).

Palwinder Kaur, 37, sarpanch elected independently from Haryau Khurd village, is now AAP candidate from Shutrana (SC) in Patiala. Five days after she got the ticket, Kaur lost her husband to dengue. Kaur, who has a diploma in engineering, has declared Rs 36.86 lakh. “In 2013, I was elected sarpanch but Akali leaders did not let me work and I realised one cannot work honestly in this system. But AAP has put a system in place in Delhi, which attracted me,” she said. Banking on her credentials as a local against SAD MLA Vaninder Kaur Loomba and Congress candidate Nirmal Singh, Kaur said her priority is to improve the primary health system.

Saroop Singh Kadiana, 42, is a kirtan singer. Matric pass and son of a chowkidar in Kadiana village, he is the AAP candidate from Phillaur (SC). “My mother is blind, my wife is a blood cancer patient,” said Saroop, who terms the election ‘zameer vs amir ki ladai’ and promises to put an end to “VIP culture” and drug rackets.

He has declared Rs 40.23 lakh, of which Rs 30 lakh is the value of his house. His rivals are Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary (Congress, son of Jalandhar MP Santokh Chaudhary) and Baldev Singh Khaira (SAD, formerly BSP).