A first in Punjab: 3 former CMs in poll fray along with Charanjit Singh Channi

BATHINDA: The February 20 assembly elections in Punjab will be the first time ever in the state that four people who have held the chief minister’s post would be contesting the elections, including three former CMs and a serving CM.
Congress CM face Charanjit Singh Channi will be contesting from Bhadaur and Chamkaur Sahib seats, SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal from Lambi, Punjab Lok Congress founder Capt Amarinder Singh from Patiala, and Congress leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal from Lehra.
Rajinder Kaur Bhattal
During the last three elections, three people who had held the top post had been contesting the same elections — Badal, Bhattal and Amarinder. With Channi taking over the top post in September last year and the three former chief ministers, including 94-year-old Badal and 74-year-old Amarinder, still active in politics, the upcoming poll is set to create history of sorts.
It was only once that no sitting or former chief minister was in the fray, when the Shiromani Akali Dal boycotted the elections in 1992.
In the three elections after Emergency, in 1977, 1980 and 1985, only one sitting CM or former chief minister — Parkash Singh Badal — was in the fray.
He first held the position in 1970. Though there was no CM in the election race in 1992 as SAD boycotted the electoral process, three CMs came out by the end in 1997 in Beant Singh, Harcharan Singh Brar and Rajinder Kaur Bhattal.
In 1997 and 2002 elections, two former or sitting CMs were in the fray in Parkash Singh Badal and Rajinder Kaur Bhattal.
In 2007, the count went up to three. This continued in 2012 and 2017 as well, when Badal, Bhattal and Amarinder jumped in the fray. This is the third instance when a sitting of former chief minister is simultaneously contesting from two seats.
It started in 1997, when Badal contested from Lambi and Qila Raipur.
He went on to win from both and retained the Qila Raipur seat in Shiromani Akali Dal kitty as Jagdish Singh Garcha won the byelection after Qila Raipur after it was vacated by Badal.
In 2017, Amarinder contested from Patiala and Lambi. Amarinder Singh won from Patiala, but lost from Lambi, from where Badal contested and won. Now, Channi is contesting from Chamkaur Sahib and Bhadaur. It is for the first time a chief minister is contesting from two constituencies which are reserved.