After 2007, no party has won two consecutive elections from Hoshiarpur’s Garhshankar
Garhshankar assembly segment in Hoshiarpur district has the peculiarity that after 2007, no party has won two consecutive elections from here. The trend which started in 1997, was broken once in 2007
The Garhshankar assembly segment in Hoshiarpur district has the peculiarity that after 2007, no party has won two consecutive elections from here. The trend which started in 1997, was broken only once when in 2007, the Congress won from here for the second time after having wrested the seat in the byelections in 2004. Otherwise, people have passed the verdict in favour of a different party in every second election.
In 1997, Bahujan Samaj Party’s Shingara Ram Sahungra won this seat for the second consecutive term. In the very next elections, he was defeated by BJP’s Avinash Rai Khanna. In the byelection held in 2004, when Khanna went on to become a Member of Parliament, Congress, which was in power at that time, won this seat. The Congress repeated the feat in 2007 when its nominee Luv Kumar Goldy emerged victorious, but in the following elections in 2012, he was defeated by SAD’s Surinder Singh Bhulewal Rathan. In 2017, the electorate rejected Rathan and voted in favour of the Aam Aadmi Party’s Jai Krishan Singh Rori. With Garhshankar win, AAP had made its debut in the district.
While the opposition parties hope that the trend continues, AAP is confident of registering a second consecutive win.
“There is a strong wave in favour of AAP. I have tried to deliver my best. When there will be AAP government at the helm, I will be in a good position to solve people’s problems,” says Rori.
People, however, say they gave chance to every party to solve their long-standing demands but were always betrayed.
Rakesh Kumar, an electorate, says, “Water scarcity, stray cattle menace and unemployment are perennial problems but no political party made an earnest effort to bring respite to us. In each election, we vote for a new party in the hope that it will bring about a change in our lives, but every time we meet with disappointment”.
Another voter Piara Singh complained that successive parties have failed to provide adequate sewerage facilities in the town.
“The issue of a bypass is hanging fire for long, but people have got only lip services. Traffic congestion is a big problem here,” he rues.
The segment has 1,75,287 votes and comprises Bet, Kandi and plain areas, each having its own distinct problems. It used to be a part of the Hoshiarpur parliamentary constituency but after delimitation in 2008, it was attached with the Anandpur Sahib constituency.
Alienating the two main contenders, Goldy and Nimisha Mehta, the Congress, this time handed over the ticket to its youth leader Amarpreet Singh Lally. Nimisha switched loyalties to the BJP and was declared its candidate, while Goldy was left in a piquant situation. In the hope of a ticket, he joined Captain Amarinder Singh’s party but the BJP kept the seat and fielded Nimisha, whom he had locked horns with while in the Congress. He is now sitting silent.
SAD has fielded its former MLA and SGPC member Surinder Singh Bhulewal Rathan while Sanyukt Samaj Morcha has put up Jang Bahadur Singh Rai, a former SGPC member, as its candidate. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) is also in the fray though it has not registered a win after 1977. The party held the seat twice in 1972 and 1977 when late Darshan Singh Canadian won from here. In the previous elections, its vote share had shrunk to 1.78 per cent.
In 2017, the contest remained three-cornered with AAP, SAD-BJP and Congress garnering 33.0 5%, 32.18 % and 25.62% votes, respectively, with changed political equations, a four-cornered contest is expected this time.