LUDHIANA

Ludhiana is one of the few seats in Punjab where Akali Dal has been winning on and off right from first polls in 1952.

One of the few seats where Akali Dal has been winning on and off right from first polls in 1952, Ludhiana was recently in national limelight with speculations about Congress veteran Manmohan Singh being fielded from here.

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The Akali-BJP combine's candidate Sharanjit Singh Dhillon has already been "rejected" as a "weak candidate" as state Congress chief HS Hanspal has been specially called to woo sizeable Muslim voters as he is a follower of Namdhari faith which has traditional affinity with Muslims.

In 1999, Congress' Gurcharan Singh Galib had drubbed sitting member of Parliament Amrik Singh Aliwal of SAD by 10,5,246 votes in a 13-cornered contest. In 1998, Amrik Singh Aliwal had trounced Gurcharan Singh Galib of Congress by 9212 votes.

The SAD had won the seat in 1996 also when Amrik Singh Aliwal defeated Jaswant Kaur of Congress by 71250 votes. BJP had come third then, taking away nearly 100,000 votes.

In 1992, the constituency was won by Congress' Gurcharan Singh Galib who drubbed Krishan Kant Jain of BJP by 53448 votes.

In 1989, Rajinder K Bulara (W)(SAD(M)) defeated Gurcharan Singh Galib (Cong) by 13,3,729 votes.

Jagdev Singh talwandi was elected from here in 1977. He along with Gurcharan Singh Tohara hae played a prominent role in Punjab politics for nearly two decades.

In the 1952 elections the seat had gone to SAD's Lal Singh while Bahadur Singh of Congress won it in 1957. Kapur Singh of AD won it in 1962 while Devinder Singh of Congress bagged it in 1967. Congress' DS Garcha won it in 1971 and 1980.

Caste Equation

There are 60% Sikhs here, followed by 39% Hindus. The Hindus include a big number of Scheduled Castes. Chamars and Majhabis are dominant among the Scheduled Castes.