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Congress fields ex-MP Sher Singh Ghubaya from Ferozepur
Congress fields former MP Sher Singh Ghubaya, 62, from Ferozepur LS seat, completing candidate list for all 13 seats in Punjab. Ghubaya faces AAP and Akali Dal candidates.
After much delay and deliberations, the Congress on Tuesday fielded former MP Sher Singh Ghubaya, 62, from the Ferozepur Lok Sabha seat.
With this, the Congress has announced candidates for all the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab. Ghubaya is pitted against AAP’s Jagdeep Singh Kaka Brar and Shiromani Akali Dal’s Nardev Singh Bobby Mann. BJP is yet to name its candidate for the Ferozepur seat.
Ghubaya won the 2009 and 2014 Lok Sabha elections on a Shiromani Akali Dal ticket. In 2019, he joined the Congress and unsuccessfully contested the LS polls as a Congress candidate against Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal. Sukhbir has decided not to contest this time.
Before being elected as MP, Ghubaya was also elected an MLA twice from Jalalabad (1997 and 2007) on an Akali Dal ticket. Interestingly, Ghubaya vacated his Jalalabad seat for Sukhbir, when he became deputy chief minister in Punjab in 2008.
His son Devinder Singh Ghubaya remained Congress MLA from Fazilka, an assembly segment of the Ferozepur Lok Sabha constituency.
Ghubaya is a Rai Sikh. The community has a sizeable presence (around 2.7 lakh) in the Ferozepur segment.
Following the announcement of his candidature, Ghubaya thanked Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, senior leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, state unit chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and party leader Partap Singh Bajwa.
Former MLA and businessman Raminder Awla was also in the race for the ticket.
“Rai Sikhs votes mostly en bloc except in 2019 when Sukhbir’s candidature split the votes. As Sukhbir has opted out from the contest, we have given the ticket to Ghubaya, a Rai Sikh, who is familiar with the area and has a good rapport with the voters,” said Partap Singh Bajwa, leader of opposition in Punjab.
In the past, Ferozepur has witnessed a direct fight between Akalis and the Congress. SAD won this seat concretively six times from 1998 to 2019. However, now the old Congress stalwarts Sunil Jakhar and Rana Gurmeet Sodhi, who held sway, have switched to the BJP.
Surinder Kamboj, the father of Jalalabad AAP MLA Jagdeep Singh Goldy Kamboj, is also in the fray on a BSP ticket.
Know the candidate
Sher Singh Ghubaya, 62, Ferozepur
From a lowly muneem (accountant) at a brick kiln, it has been a meteoric rise for Ghubaya. The two-time MP, Ghubaya is a Rai Sikh, a community with a sizeable presence in the Ferozepur constituency. He won the 2009 and 2014 LS polls in the Akali Dal ticket. In 2019, he shifted to the Congress and unsuccessfully contested the Parliamentary polls against SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal. He also remained MLA from Jalalabad in 1997 and 2007. His son Devinder Singh Ghubaya also remained MLA from Congress from Fazilka.
