A political love-triangle in Amritsar

Amritsar: The elections to the Punjab Assembly which ended in a single phase on Sunday has turned out to be a love triangle at least in Amritsar. Unlike the UP elections, where the battle is between Samajwadi Party and Bharatiya Janata Party, here it is an ongoing 'Love Triangle' amongst Aam Admit Party (AAP), Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).

Amritsar East, a hot seat in the Assembly constituency, opinions and voters are divided between the three contenders. Contrary to political opinions, Congress Punjab chief Navjot Singh Siddhu is unlikely to gain a substantial foothold as the anti-incumbency sentiment against him are riding high. But to predict a clear winner is nearly impossible. While many residents at Amritsar are interested in giving the new challenger AAP a chance in this election, others are ready to give another chance to Shiromani Akali Dal candidate Bikram Singh Majithia.

Holding a clear bias towards the Congress and its candidate Siddhu, Congress Councillor Jatinder Singh Bhatia says that much effort has been put by its Punjab party chief in the development of the local area. He claims that while the issue of open drainage, Siddhu has significantly brought down corruption in Amritsar East. When asked for details of the developmental activities, Bhatia could not give a definite answer.

Ironically, while pointing to the public litter and open drainage, Bhatia said, "Amritsar East has been beautified under the tenure of Navjot Singh Siddhu. SAD has given a chance to Majithia, an outsider, to contest from Amritsar East which is the home of Siddhu. He has also brought down the synthetic drug use and cases here in the area."

The residents do not agree to these claims of Bhatia. 25-year-olds Virendra Singh, Robin, Lucky Singh and Gagan say that they have never seen any developmental work here and that they have never seen Siddhu ever in the locality in the last five years. Siddhu had joined the Congress in 2017, right before the then Assembly elections and won the Amritsar East Assembly seat.

Sharing similar sentiments, Vandana Devi, Shanti Rani and Monica say that the developmental claims made by the Congress are no different from his predecessors and that Amritsar has seen no substantial work under any state government. Given that the population is unhappy with the offered political front of Congress or SAD, people are ready to give a chance to the new entrant AAP, she said.

Interestingly, people know Kejriwal but are not familiar with the name of AAP Punjab chief Bhagwat Mann.

However, voters are tight-lipped about their preferred candidate, the word "Silent Vote" echoes amongst the eligible voters. Many believe that that the triangular political fight has divided the opinions of voters, across the lines of religion, caste and age-groups.

The 50-year-old Jaswinder Singh, who owns a photo studio says that AAP may gain a substantial foothold in the area.

Punjab's 117 Assembly seats went to polls but the presence of the BJP and its allies is substantially weak and almost absent in Amritsar. According to the locals, while much effort was put in by SAD, Congress and AAP into political campaigning, the BJP and its allies and Punjab Lok Congress remained absent from any sort of on-ground politicking.

In Amritsar South, close to the famous Golden Temple, voter participation remained overwhelming and higher than Amritsar East. Long queues outside polling booths could be seen from the second half of the day.

"At polling booth 38, 243 eligible voters, out of 942, have cast their vote till 3 PM. We have taken all possible precautions such as sanitisers, temperature checks, face masks and hand gloves to ensure safety of the voters. Each booth has 2 polling booth officers and 4 security personnel," a polling booth officer told Hans India. According to the booth officials, the expected voter participation is expected to go upto 65% by the end of the election period at 6 PM.