Voters to decide the fate of bureaucrats contesting elections; IAS,IPS,CE,DETC etc in fray
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in
In this Punjab elections many bureaucrats, officers are trying their luck in politics. Amongst IAS, IPS officers, a chief engineer retired from water resources department (irrigation), a DETC (deputy excise and taxation commissioner), a university teacher are in the fray from various political parties, independent.
The most popular bureaucrat in this election is Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh (IPS). Partap is a Punjab-cadre ex-inspector general of police (IGP). While Pratap, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate from the Amritsar North constituency, had nearly 8 years of service left. Partap took premature retirement to join politics.
Retired Punjab principal secretary Sucha Ram Ladhar, who is contesting on BJP ticket from Gill (reseved) segment, is another former senior bureaucrat in the fray. Ladhar had earlier formed Kiri Kisan Sher-E-Punjab Party, which he merged with the BJP a couple of months back. Ladhar came into limelight when he served as a divisional commissioner and have charged a hefty arbitration fee for deciding land acquisition compensation cases of farmers. On this the Punjab and Haryana High Court had asked him to deposit one-third of the total arbitration fees of Rs.1.5 crore into the state government’s arbitration account.
Former Tamil Nadu additional chief secretary Jagmohan Singh Raju (IAS) also took premature retirement to join politics .Raju, the BJP candidate from Amritsar East that is witnessing a high-profile contest between Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu and Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia, had one-and-half-years for his superannuation. Though Raju belongs to scheduled caste (SC) category, the BJP has announced his candidature from Amritsar, an unreserved seat.
Sitting MLA Kuldeep Vaid, a retired IAS officer, is the Congress nomine from Gill reserved constituency.
Darbara Singh, a senior state excise office, remained deputy excise and taxation commissioner (DETC) is contesting from Shutrana assembly seats on congress ticket, after taking premature retirement.
Also Er RL Sandhu, a retired chief engineer from water resources department (irrigation) is trying his luck from Dasuya constituency on Samyukt Samaj Morcha (SSM) ticket.
Ex-Punjab Civil Service (PCS) officer Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal, who became Congress MLA from the Phagwara reserved seat in the 2019 assembly bypolls, is contesting from the same seat.
Another retired Punjab police IGP Surinder Singh Sodhi (IPS), who is contesting on AAP ticket from Jalandhar Cantonment, retired Jalandhar deputy commissioner of police Balkar Singh, AAP nominee from Kartarpur.
Former DIG Iqbal Singh Lalpura, who was chairperson of the National Minority Commission, has been fielded by the BJP from the Ropar assembly segment. Lalpura resigned from the post of chairman National Minority Commission to contest polls.
After unsuccessfully contesting from the Jandiala Assembly seat in 2017, Harbhajan Singh, AAP leader, is again trying his luck. He had resigned from the Excise and Taxation Department and had cracked the ambitious PCS examination to gain the plum post.
Arjuna Awardee basketball player Sajjan Singh Cheema, who had also taken premature retirement to unsuccessfully contest on AAP ticket from Sultanpur Lodhi in 2017, is in the fray this time again from the seat.
Ashok Bath, a retired SSP, is trying his luck from Balachaur segment this time. He belongs to the Gujjar community that dominates the segment.
Punjab Lok Congress’ Nakodar candidate Shammi Kumar Kalyan is also a retired police officer. Balwinder Singh Sekhon, a police officer who was dismissed two days before his retirement last year, has filed nomination from Amritsar East.
Voters to decide the fate of bureaucrats contesting elections; IAS,IPS,CE,DETC etc in fray . Retired ADC Jaswinder Singh Ramdas is contesting as an AAP candidate from the Attari Assembly seat.
A qualified Punjabi university engineering department teacher Dr Pankaj Mohindru is also trying to represent Patiala (urban) constituency in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha. He might be the lone candidate who is still in the job and has taken permission to contest elections.
February 19,2022
