Every­body loves to watch the ‘dance of democ­ra­cy’ –as In­di­ans love to call their mas­sive elec­tions. The World Sikh News pre­sents a bird’s eye view of the gen­eral elec­tion sce­nario in the state of Pun­jab as at the fi­nal count 2.7 mil­lion vot­ers are ex­pected to ex­er­cise their fran­chise in the sev­enth and last phase of elec­tions on 19 May 2019.

As the spate of street cor­ner meet­ings in vil­lages and cities reaches a fever-pitch and the nom­i­na­tion process nearly com­pleted, bat­tle-lines are drawn for 13 of the 543 rep­re­sen­ta­tives which Pun­jab sends to the In­dian Par­lia­ment.

Since the first elec­tion in 1950, pri­mar­ily there have been two main con­tenders -the Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal and the In­dian Na­tional Con­gress.

In the past, Pun­jab has also seen vic­to­ri­ous can­di­dates from par­ties like the Sim­ran­jit Singh Mann-led Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal Am­rit­sar and the Baba Jogin­der Singh-led United Akali Dal.

As the elec­tion­eer­ing pitch picks up, like in the rest of the coun­try, in Pun­jab too the Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janta Party com­bine is con­test­ing this elec­tion as a Pres­i­den­tial elec­tion and seek­ing votes in the name of Naren­dra Modi and the ul­tra-na­tion­al­is­tic nar­ra­tive of Pak­istan as the num­ber one en­emy of all In­di­ans.

It is sad to see that the is­sues which led to the Akali Dal mor­cha in 1982, the at­tack on Dar­bar Sahib and Akal Takht in June 1984, the geno­cide of No­vem­ber 1984, the hun­dreds of thou­sands of de­ten­tions in Pun­jab, state re­pres­sion in Pun­jab, the anti-peo­ple thrust of the Pun­jab po­lice –pretty well-known and now again doc­u­mented in 2018, are not elec­tion is­sues in 2019.

The Con­gress party can­di­dates are bank­ing upon the con­tri­bu­tion of those MPs who were elected last time, the na­tional plank of the Con­gress man­i­festo of jus­tice to the poor and the two-year suc­cess of the Cap­tain Amarinder Singh gov­ern­ment in Pun­jab.

In the last Par­lia­men­tary elec­tions in 2014, the Aam Aadmi Party sent 4 mem­bers of Par­lia­ment –the only ones from the whole coun­try, but the Delhi-based re­mote con­trol AAP played tru­ant.  Now the AAP is con­test­ing a few con­stituen­cies but ex­cept for its state pres­i­dent Bhag­want Mann, con­test­ing from San­grur con­stituency, the party seems to have has lost its bear­ings.

The Akali Dal break­away Tak­sali Akali Dal of Ran­jit Singh Brahm­pura has fielded a few can­di­dates but still seems to be suf­fer­ing the pangs of sep­a­ra­tion and in­fancy, though they do go for the pitch of true fed­er­al­ism in the coun­try, which was once upon a time the main goal of the Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal.

The Lok In­saf Party of the Bains broth­ers is con­test­ing the seats of Lud­hi­ana and Fate­hgarh Sahib and its ally Sukh­pal Singh Khaira’s Pun­jab Ekta Party is con­test­ing the Bhatinda and Khadoor Sahib seats. An anti-Akali Dal and anti-Con­gress mid­dle path is the goal of these two par­ties.  The Nawan Pun­jab Party has its for­mer MP as its lone cru­sader.

The Pan­thic groups, with in­signif­i­cant po­lit­i­cal pres­ence and no prepa­ra­tions are keenly pur­su­ing hu­man rights cru­sader Jaswant Singh Khal­ra’s wife Bibi Paramjit Kaur Khalra for the Khadoor Sahib seat, mak­ing it a fight be­tween re­spect for hu­man rights and abuse of hu­man rights.  Should she win, she will per­haps be one of the first hu­man rights voice in the In­dian par­lia­ment.

For­mer diplo­mat and cab­i­net min­is­ter, Delhi-based Hard­eep Singh Puri is con­test­ing for the BJP from Am­rit­sar and ac­tor-turned-can­di­date Mum­bai-based Sunny Deol is con­test­ing for the same party from Gur­daspur.

The fol­low­ers and lead­ers of the Sirsa-based Sauda Dera of the pseudo-saint Gurmeet Ram Rahim, af­ter ly­ing dor­mant for two years, have be­come em­bold­ened enough to come onto the streets and are flex­ing their mus­cles.

The Bar­gari Mor­cha and its lead­er­ship are yet to make their mark in the Malwa re­gion of Pun­jab as they have failed to sus­tain the anti-sac­ri­lege ag­i­ta­tion ex­cept for a few black flags here and there.

As re­gards the Com­mu­nist par­ties of Pun­jab, they are wait­ing for the emer­gence of a Kan­haiya Ku­mar in the state.

The fol­low­ers and lead­ers of the Sirsa-based Sauda Dera of the pseudo-saint Gurmeet Ram Rahim, af­ter ly­ing dor­mant for two years, have be­come em­bold­ened enough to come onto the streets and are flex­ing their mus­cles openly as well as dis­creetly to lend sup­port to any can­di­date or party which can once again lend them sup­port for re­vival. The pseudo-saint has also ap­plied for bail, al­beit on per­sonal grounds.

As of now, one can­not see any pres­ence of the Sikh Di­as­pora in the Pun­jab elec­tions, nor are there any re­ports or in­di­ca­tions of any lo­gis­ti­cal sup­port to any can­di­date or par­ties.  Dis­il­lu­sion­ment and lack of in­ter­est in par­lia­men­tary polls are the two rea­sons for this. The sub­dued 2020 ref­er­en­dum cam­paign­ers have also not made their noise for the 2019 elec­tions.

So­cial me­dia –What­sapp and Face­book are still to catch up on the Pun­jab elec­toral scene as the Sikh so­cial me­dia war­riors are busy com­men­tat­ing on the hate cam­paign across the coun­try.

As per the ADR re­port, dur­ing 2010-11 to 2014-15, SAD col­lected Ru­pees 76.14 crores, Aam Aadmi Party col­lected Ru­pees 110.06 crores, BJP col­lected Ru­pees 2,445.87 crores and INC -Ru­pees 2280.43 crores as do­na­tions. 

As per the re­port of the As­so­ci­a­tion for De­mo­c­ra­tic Re­forms, dur­ing the pe­riod 2010-11 to 2014-15, the Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal gar­nered Ru­pees. 76.14 crores as party funds whereas dur­ing the same pe­riod (in fact as the party was formed in 2012), , the Aam Aadmi Party col­lected Ru­pees 110.06 crores as do­na­tions. It is an­other mat­ter that dur­ing the same pe­riod, the na­tional par­ties –Bharatiya Janta Party col­lected a whop­ping Ru­pees 2,445.87 crores and the In­dian Na­tional Con­gress got Ru­pees 2280.43 crores.

The Elec­tion Com­mis­sion of In­dia has not only not taken any de­ci­sion on the al­leged poll code vi­o­la­tions by Prime Min­is­ter Naren­dra Modi, but de­spite a note by the Pun­jab gov­ern­ment, it has failed to or­der the re­in­state­ment of IG Kun­war Vi­jay Par­tap Singh to the SIT in­ves­ti­gat­ing des­e­cra­tion and po­lice fir­ing which killed two Sikhs in Oc­to­ber 2015. Though a par­tial charge-sheet has been filed by the SIT, this is­sue will also play a role in the Malwa re­gion where Akali Dal stal­warts are can­di­dates.

It is sad to see that the is­sues which led to the Akali Dal mor­cha in 1982, the at­tack on Dar­bar Sahib and Akal Takht in June 1984, the geno­cide of No­vem­ber 1984, the hun­dreds of thou­sands of de­ten­tions in Pun­jab, state re­pres­sion in Pun­jab, the anti-peo­ple thrust of the Pun­jab po­lice –pretty well-known and now again doc­u­mented in 2018, are not elec­tion is­sues in 2019.

Pun­jab par­ties and lead­ers have never placed pre­mium on the role, con­tri­bu­tion and per­for­mance of par­lia­men­tar­i­ans.  Will it be dif­fer­ent in 2019?