Most of the AAP women candidates who won are greenhorns

TNN / Updated: Mar 12, 2022,

AAP’s Santosh Kataria, Jeevan Jyot Kaur, Anmol Gagan MaanBATHINDA/LUDHIANA/PATIALA: Of the 13 newly-elected women MLAs in Punjab, 11 belong to AAP, while Congress and SAD have one each. Among all the political parties in the contest, the AAP had fielded 12 women candidates, and 11 won; the only exception being Manju Rana, who lost by 7,304 votes to Rana Gurjeet Singh of Congress from Kapurthala.
Most of the AAP women candidates who won are greenhorns.

Baljinder Kaur (35), AAP’s women wing head belongs to Talwandi Sabo, the abode of Takht Damdama Sahib, and is seen as the party’s Panthic face. She has a grip on issues concerning religious leanings and was also most active in raising women centric issues in the party. She retained the seat, winning by 15,252 votes.
Baljit Kaur (46) runs a charitable hospital in Muktsar and has worked as a government doctor for 22 years. She is the daughter of former MP Prof Sadhu Singh. She contested from Malout constituency and won by the biggest margin of 40,261 by any woman candidate in the 2022 assembly elections. Dr Amandeep Kaur Arora (39), who contested election from Moga assembly segment, had graduated from Crimea State Medical University in Crimea in 2008. She defeated Bollywood actor Sonu Sood’s sister Malvika Sood Sachar by a margin of 33,759 votes. Anmol Gagan Maan (32) is the party’s youth wing deputy head. She stole the show at various programmes organised by the party in the run up to elections, including its first ever at Baghapurana, from where it launched its election campaign in 2021, and at Moga, when their national convener Arvind Kejriwal interacted with women and promised Rs 1,000 per month to every woman above the age of 18 years. She won by 37,885 votes from Kharar assembly segment.
AAP bagged 13 of the 14 assembly seats in Ludhiana district, of which two went to women. While Sarvjit Kaur Manuke has won the Jagraon segment for second consecutive term, Rajinderpal Kaur Chhina made her debute from Ludhiana South.

Sarvjit (49) was a teacher in a private school in Ludhiana before joining the AAP. She contested the 2017 assembly polls from Jagraon and won by defeating her nearest rival Malkit Singh Dakha (a political heavyweight contesting on Congress ticket) by 25,576 votes. Soon after, the party elected her as the deputy leader of opposition in the assembly. This time, she defeated her key rival S R Kler (SAD) by 39,656 votes, improving her vote share from 45.69% in 2017 elections to 51.95%. Her main priorities include better education, healthcare and other basic amenities for the people. An arts graduate, Rajinderpal Kaur Chhina (56) worked as a finance manager and helped her husband in running a machine parts industry. She joined the Anna Hazare anti-corruption movement, from where she moved on to joining the AAP. She had campaigned for H S Phoolka in Dakha, and in Delhi for her party. “I would have contested even the 2017 elections but we had an alliance with LIP. Now, I have won from the same seat,” she said. Chhina defeated her closest rival Satinderpal Singh Tajpuri of BJP by 26,138 votes, while Bains, who had won the seat in 2012 and 2017, finished fourth with 11,906 votes.

In Sangrur seat, AAP’s Narinder Kaur Bharaj (21) had defeated Congress minister Vijay Inder Singla with a margin of 36,430 votes. A law graduate, she hails from Bharaj village of Sangrur.