Lok Sabha polls: Light, camera, no Bollywood action in Punjab's Gurdaspur this time

Following snapping of ties, both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) are contesting independently on the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha parliamentary seat.

The BJP has nominated a threetime MLA and former deputy speaker in Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Dinesh Singh Babbu, whereas the SAD has fielded party’s senior vicepresident Daljeet Singh Cheema.

The Congress has fielded its heavyweight, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, a former deputy chief minister, while the AAP has placed its bet on Amansher Singh Sherry Kalsi, the sitting MLA from Batala.

Interestingly, the BJP has decided not to allot ticket to any celebrity or movie star this time, which is seen as a departure from its past practice when contested in alliance with the SAD.

Indian film industry celebrities have generally been successful candidates, barring one instance, and have not disappointed the BJP. However, they have often fallen short of meeting the expectations of the constituents of Gurdaspur.

Many believe that the BJP was compelled to forgo fielding a celebrity candidate due to resentment among the local leadership. This decision was most likely influenced by the continuous absence of the elected MP, Sunny Deol, from the constituency. At one point, people even pasted posters of “Gumshuda Ki Talash” for Sunny Deol, expressing their discontent over his absence.

Actor Vinod Khanna had consecutively won the elections in 1999 and 2004 but lost to Congress’ Partap Singh Bajwa in 2009 with a margin of a few thousands of votes, only to come back in 2014 after trouncing him with over one lakh votes.

Following his demise, in the 2017 by-election, Congress’ Sunil Jakhar (now with the BJP) won the Gurdaspur seat. At that time, the BJP had fielded a local businessman, Sawaran Salaria, against him. In 2019 again, the BJP chose Sunny Deol, who defeated Jakhar by over one lakh votes.

Due to its geographical features, the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha constituency shares an international boundary with Pakistan, as well as Kathua and Chamba districts of Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.

Two militant attacks — one at the Pathankot IAF base on Jan 2, 2016, and the other at the Dinanagar police station on July 27, 2015 — highlights the sensitivity of the constituency. Similar to other border districts of Punjab, Gurdaspur is plagued by incidents of crossborder smuggling of drugs, arms, and ammunition.

The constituency has a high rate of Hindu population and faces the issues of conversions. The constituency also has a large number of Ahmadiyya Muslim voters.