Traditional ‘Cong vs SAD’ battleground, Faridkot set for a triangular contest

The Faridkot seat is set to witness a fierce triangular electoral battle between the sitting Congress MLA and candidates of the SAD and the AAP. The trio faces one another for the second consecutive election this time.

A semi-urban assembly constituency that has been choosing the Shiromani Akali Dal and Congress candidates alternately since 1997, Faridkot has a new formidable kid on the block — Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The seat is set to witness a fierce triangular electoral battle between the sitting Congress MLA and candidates of the SAD and the AAP.

Sitting Faridkot MLA Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon of the Congress, who was the Akali Dal legislator from the segment in 2002, is facing heat from SAD’s Parambans Singh Romana and AAP’s Gurdit Singh Sekhon. (HT FIle)

Sitting Congress MLA Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon, who was the Akali Dal legislator from the segment in 2002, is facing heat from SAD’s Parambans Singh Romana and AAP’s Gurdit Singh Sekhon. The trio faces one another for the second consecutive election this time. While the SAD appears to have the upper hand in the rural belts of the constituency, the AAP has an edge in the urban areas.

In the 2017 polls, the shadow of 2015 sacrilege and police firing incidents was palpable on the result. Congress’s Dhillon with 51,026 votes had defeated AAP’s Sekhon by 11,659 votes; an election fought on assurance for justice in the sacrilege and police firing incidents. The emotive issue went against the SAD even as the segment has been its stronghold and its candidate Romana ended up at the third spot with 32,612 votes.

The SAD is banking on its promises and campaigning by party president Sukhbir Badal. Romana has even announced a separate poll manifesto for the constituency.

“We are getting unmatched support in both rural and urban areas. Those who had left the SAD are back, while a number of Congress and AAP leaders have also joined the Akali Dal. Under the Congress rule, the constituency lacked in development and people now want SAD back,” Romana said.

The AAP is banking on its ‘One chance to AAP’ appeal, along with its chief ministerial face Bhagwant Mann, who has held two roadshows in support of Sekhon in the past month.

Interestingly, no senior Congress leader has campaigned in the favour of Dhillon, who is running his campaign on the basis of development works done during his tenure. “Both SAD and AAP are no challenge to me because the development works done by me speak for themselves. The people will surely acknowledge that,” said Dhillon.