E-Paper
ROPAR
The constituency starts from SAS Nagar bordering Chandigarh and goes up to Dhuri in Sangrur district, covering almost 140 km across five districts.
The Ropar town in the Ropar (reserve) parliamentary constituency in Punjab has the unique distinction of not being included in the segment after which it is being named.
The town is a part of Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha constituency and it does not have the status of a full-fledged Assembly segment as it is included in Anandpur Sahib constituency.
Interestingly, the candidates for the Ropar seat have to walk down to the office of the Deputy Commissioner in the town to file their nominations.
The constituency starts from SAS Nagar bordering Chandigarh and goes up to Dhuri in Sangrur district covering almost 140 km across five districts.
Describing such an unusual composition as "political jugglery," the voters of this constituency are sore over the authorities concerned, who had so far failed to pay heed to their repeated requests seeking delimitation.
Named Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha seat till 1962, the constituency was represented by Diwan Chand Sharma of the Congress, Baldev Singh of Akali Dal, who was Union Defence Minister, and Amar Nath Vidyalankar in 1952, 1957 and 1962, respectively.
After being named as the Ropar Lok Sabha constituency, it was made a reserved constituency and in 1975 Ropar town was excluded from its map.
The Congress candidate Shamsher Singh Dullo emerged victorious in 1999 from Ropar defeating Akali Dal nominee Satwinder Kaur Dhaliwal.
Ropar was having a status of full-fledged Vidhan Sabha seat till 1972 and in 1975 it was included in the Anandpur Sahib Assembly segment and re-named Anandpur Sahib-Ropar seat.
Now, the demands for granting a full-fledged Assembly constituency status to Ropar and including it in the Ropar Lok Sabha constituency besides making it a general seat seem to become a major issue during the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections slated for May 10.
Sitting MP Dullo (Congress), former member of the Rajya Sabha Sukhdev Singh Libra (SAD-BJP), National Secretary of the BSP Mann Singh Manhera, Surjan Singh Rahi (SAD-Ravi Inder Singh) and the district president of the SAD (Amritsar) Bhag Singh Surtapur are eyeing to contest from Ropar. None of them have filed nominations.
