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Journalism of Courage
On Thursday evening, former Indian hockey captain Sandeep Singh was a busy man meeting and thanking his supporters personally in Pehowa constituency. Sandeep is the only one among the three sportspersons who were given tickets by the BJP in Haryana, who has emerged victorious.
He defeated his nearest rival Mandeep Singh Chattha of the Congress by 5314 votes in Pehowa to become the first BJP MLA to win from the constituency. In his win, he also prevented Congress from wresting back the seat it lost to INLD in 2014 after winning it for five times since 1967. The last time the Congress won from here was in 2009.
In 2014, Jaswinder Singh Sandhu of INLD had won the Pehowa seat with a margin of 9347 votes.
When Thursday’s results were declared, Sandeep got a total of 42,613 votes as compared to 37,299 votes for Chattha.
“It is start of a new inning for me and it feels good to win. People of Pehowa have reposed faith in me and I will aim to work for the development of the people apart from working in a way that they again show their faith in me. I believe that one should not think about completing their five-year term only, but on working for people in a way that they always show their support. They have shown faith in me and my focus will be on the development of youth apart from working on the issues that villagers face. I also believe that youth need to be more and more aware of their rights and I will working in this regard,” Sandeep said.
Sandeep, who hails from Shahabad and had resigned from the post of DSP in Haryana Police prior to the elections, got a total of 34.69 per cent of votes as compared to Chattha’s 30.36 vote share in the constituency. The total voting in the constituency was 67.10 per cent.
He had made his debut for the Indian hockey team in 2004, and was known for his drag-flicks. Sandeep also captained the Indian team in 2009 before being a part of the Indian team in London Olympics. In 2006, he suffered a career threatening injury after a bullet fired accidentally by a Railways Police personnel on board Shatabdi Express train hit him while on the way to Delhi to join the Indian team for the World Cup. Singh made a comeback for the Indian team after spending more than six months on a wheelchair post the accident. Last year, a biopic “Soorma” was released based on his journey.
While his hometown Shahabad has produced several women hockey players like Indian hockey captain Rani Rampal, Sandeep says that his focus will be on promoting sports at grassroots level. “Definitely developing sports and sports infrastructure will be one of the focus points for me. Yes, being a sportsperson is an advantage for me as I have been interacting with lots of players since long. The last 2-3 months also gave me a chance to interact with people publicly and to spend time with them understanding their problems. What I have learnt is that we need to work on grassroots level in sports and the focus will be on local academies and nurseries apart from preparing more coaches,” he said.
Meanwhile, London Olympics bronze medal winner Yogeshwar Dutt, who was fielded by BJP for the Baroda constituency, lost to Congress candidate Krishan Hooda by 4,840 votes. CWG silver medallist Babita Phogat of BJP came a distant third in Dadri constituency with a total of 24,786 votes as compared to Independent candidate Sombir, who got 43,849 votes to win the seat.
