With three days left for the Punjab Assembly polls, all eyes are on the Amritsar East constituency, where two firebrand leaders – state Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu and senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia – are locked in a pitched battle. The high-profile constituency had proved to be a cakewalk for cricketer-turned-politician Sidhu in the previous election, who had switched to the Congress from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) before the 2017 Assembly polls. Contesting as a Congress candidate, he had then clinched the seat by over 40,000 votes. Sidhu's wife Navjot Kaur was the first candidate to win Amritsar East in the 2012 polls as a BJP candidate after it was carved out as a new constituency following delimitation. The saffron party was then an ally of the SAD. This election is turning out to be a different ball game for Sidhu though, with former minister Majithia giving him a run for his money. The Sidhu family's hold over Amritsar East was put to test as soon as the SAD leadership decided to take its battle against the Punjab Congress chief to his constituency by fielding Majithia from there. Majithia had been in Sidhu's line of fire for months ahead of the Punjab polls over the drugs issue. The iron lady’s charisma synergised every soul in the city pic.twitter.com/7j1CCQ6ZrN — Navjot Singh Sidhu (@sherryontopp) February 16, 2022 Majithia had initially filed his nomination from his stronghold, Majitha, indicating that he will contest from both the constituencies, but later, accepting the challenge thrown by Sidhu, he decided to fight only from Amritsar East leaving his Majitha seat for his wife Ganieve Kaur, who is now the SAD candidate from there. The BJP has given its ticket to former IAS officer Jagmohan Raju from Amritsar East, whereas the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded Jeevan Jyot Kaur, who has been associated with the party since 2014. In their election rallies, Sidhu and Majithia have been unrelentingly going after each other. Majithia seems to have gone all out to take on Sidhu, deploying formidable resources into his election management. He is seeking to reach out to all communities. Seizing on perceived “anti-incumbency” against Sidhu, he is projecting himself as a leader “who gets work done against all odds”. Majithia also seems to be exploiting the rifts within the Congress against Sidhu, managing to get 3 of the Congress's 15 councillors from the constituency defect to his party. A formidable campaigner, Sidhu, however, has the advantage of fighting the election on his home turf. He has been pulling crowds in his rallies. In his fiery speeches, he has been attacking Majithia and the Akali Dal for everything that has gone wrong with Punjab. And, he is using the FIR under the NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act against Majithia as a political weapon against him, telling voters that the outcome of this election will determine their children's future. Majithia has been out on bail in this case. A measure of Majithia's fierce challenge to Sidhu could be gauged from the point that the SAD candidate has managed to pin the state Congress chief down to Amritsar East. Amid signs of anti-incumbency against her husband, Navjot Kaur has been telling people that she will be more accessible to them now. However, the biggest odd Majthia is up against is the “perception battle”, with Sidhu charging in his speeches that the former's “tainted image” was the main reason behind Arun Jaitely's defeat at the hands of Captain Amarinder Singh in Amritsar in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Sidhu enjoys a “clean image”, although there is some resentment against him in the constituency over his “overbearing attitude” and his inaccessibility. The Congress hopes that the anti-incumbency votes against him would be divided between the SAD, AAP, and BJP candidates. On his part, Majithia is seeking to play humble. He even turned tearful during a recent rally while making a reference to his mother. He has also mounted an outreach to the Hindu voters. He is even playing a caste card against Sidhu, telling Dalits that the latter has been against his own party leader and Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi while eyeing his post. The BJP's Raju is not a local candidate and he is using Twitter and Facebook to attack Sidhu and Majithia. The AAP's Jyot is also not able to pull crowds in her rallies, with the contest being clearly a direct battle between Sidhu and Majithia.
