Sunday, March 12, 2017

Rai Sikh support, ‘Congress wave’ helped youngest MLA

Ajay Sura| TNN | Updated: Mar 12, 2017, 09.00 AM IST
FAZILKA: Davinder Singh Ghubaya, 25, has become the youngest legislator in the Punjab state assembly by defeating his nearest rival, cabinet minister Surjit Jyani of BJP, by a thin margin of 265 votes in Fazilka constituency.

Son of SAD rebel leader and Ferozepur MP Sher Singh Ghubaya, Davinder was studying MA (economics integrated course) at Panjab University, Chandigarh, when his father managed to get a Congress ticket for him from Fazilka. The two factors that helped Ghubaya win the election are -- support from the Rai Sikh community, which comprises 52,000 of the total 1.63 lakh votes in Fazilka and the Congress wave in the state.

According to Ghubaya's birth certificate, he was born on December 13, 1991, and had become eligible to contest just before the nominations for the assembly polls were filed. After polling, he had also joined the university to complete his final semester examinations.

Youngest of four siblings, Davinder gives credit to "Guru's blessings" and the support by people, especially from his community, for the victory.

He also claimed that people had taken revenge for the SAD "ignoring and maltreating" his father. "People of the constituency knew who wanted to finish us and understood their design. Our victory is a slap on them (family detractors)," Davinder told TOI while coming out of the counting station in Fazilka on Saturday.

Davinder said apart from politics, he was interested in cricket. Before joining his supporters for a road show in Fazilka city on Saturday, Davinder said his focus would be on developing infrastructure for industries in the border area and to develop more educational institutions.

His elder brother, Ravinder, who is an IIT graduate and preparing for UPSC examinations, said Davinder was asked to contest because he had been active in the constituency for the last seven years with his father. Davinder's two sisters are graduates in law.

'Dream' of gangster Rocky's sister unfulfilled

Rajdeep Kaur, an independent candidate and sister of slain gangster-turned-politician Rocky, lost from Fazilka seat. Though she gave a tough contest to Ghubaya and Jyani in the initial rounds of counting, she finished third by the last round.

Rocky was gunned down near Solan in Himachal Pradesh in April last year. He was facing several cases in Punjab and neighbouring states at the time of his death. Rocky had contested the 2012 assembly elections and lost to BJP's Jyani by a margin of around 1,600 votes. After his death, Rajdeep, 36, had announced to contest polls to fulfil her brother's "dream". She polled 38,135 votes, while Ghubaya got 39,276 and Jyani 39,011.

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