Rajasthan: Congress candidate from Karanpur seat Gurmeet Singh Kooner dies

Kooner was a three term MLA from Karanpur in Ganganagar district. He was elected to the constituency for the first time in 1998 on a Congress ticket, then as an Independent in 2008, and then again as a Congress candidate in 2018. In the second Ashok Gehlot government (2008-13), Kooner held various portfolios as a minister of state.

He started in politics from the grassroots and was elected as a sarpanch in the early 1980s. He also held the position of Pradhan, before moving on to the Zila Parishad and becoming the Up Zila Pramukh and then Zila Pramukh of Ganganagar in the 1990s, eventually going on to contest the Assembly elections.

In the ongoing elections, Surendra Pal Singh is the BJP candidate from the constituency.

For the last 25 years, the Karanpur Assembly seat has oscillated between the two leaders, going thrice to Kooner and twice to Singh. This time, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) too was hoping to make inroads through its candidate Prithipal Singh, as Ganganagar district, on the international border, also shares a state border with Punjab.

Condoling the death, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said on X that he was “deeply saddened by the news.” “Despite being unwell for a long time, Shri Kooner always strived for development works in his area. Kooner saheb’s demise is an irreparable loss for the Congress Party and the politics of Rajasthan. I pray to God to give peace to the departed soul and courage to the family,” Gehlot said.

While there was no official statement from the Election Commission yet, in case of death of a candidate of a recognised political party before polling, the election in the particular constituency is adjourned under Section 52 of the Representation of the People Act. Incidentally, in the last elections too, polls were held for 199 out of 200 seats after the BSP candidate in Alwar district’s Ramgarh constituency died of cardiac arrest, leading to postponement of the election from the seat.