SANGRUR
: Two weeks to
voting
, there's an unusual lack of pre-election excitement and buzz in Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann's home district. The heatwave has robbed the Lok Sabha
of its colour, while a sense of "
betrayal
" has killed the
urge
to vote.
The streets campaigns are missing, the political posters and flags are confined to the major highways, and for the first time his life, Hari Lal, a 70-year-old barber from Sangur, is uncertain about voting.
His disenchantment with the political lot resonates with many other voters in the district. Hari Lal said: "Over the years, we tried several parties, but nothing changed on the ground. I have always voted since earning this right, but this time I might not take the trouble. A sense of betrayal is behind my pessimism."
Jagtar Singh, a farmer from Gurdaspura village, has similar sentiments, that people are so fed up with the repeated failures of their elected representatives that they now tell the campaigners to shut their loudspeakers. Asked about his plan for June 1, Jagtar said: "I don't have any motivation to go out in this heat to vote. I'd prefer to stay home and tend to my fields instead of wasting time."
There are more than 20 candidates for the Lok Sabha seat of Sangur, which has nine assembly constituencies. The main contenders are sitting MP Simranjit Singh Mann of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), state minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and Sukhpal Singh Khaira of the Congress. From 1952 to 2022, including the byelections, the constituency had 13 MP from different parties such as the Congress, AAP, SAD, Communist Party of India, Akali Dal (Sant Fateh Singh), and SAD (Amritsar). Bhagwant Mann helped AAP win this seat in both 2014 and 2019.
Giving a different reason why the district's voters had lost interest, private bank manager Love Deep Singh said: "All the main political parties have fielded outsiders. These candidates are also not much familiar with Sangrur. If local leaders such as Vijay Inder Singla were in the fray, people would be more interested in voting."
English (US) ·