Highlighting the significance of non-jatt Sikhs in Punjab's electoral politics, Congress leader Amarjeet Singh Tikka urged Party interim president Sonia Gandhi for adequate representation of the community in the upcoming state Assembly polls.
In his letter to Sonia Gandhi, Tikka said, "I want to bring your attention towards the upcoming political scenario of Punjab it's demography and elections. There are 35 seats that belong to the urban demographics in Punjab and urban non-jatt Sikhs have a deciding vote bank in all of these constituencies. The representation of non-jatt Sikhs is 15 per cent and the majority faction belongs to Khatri/Arora's which is 16 per cent."
"Non-jatt Sikhs will play a deciding and game-changing role in the upcoming 2022 elections and they should be given adequate representation," he said.
He said the decision to appoint Sardar Charanjit Singh Channi as chief minister perfectly banked on the representation of the SC/ST community as Punjab has the highest percentage of SC/ST community in the entire country.
Emphasizing on the need of adequate representation of non-jatt Sikh community, Tikka said there was only one cabinet minister belonging to non-jatt Sikh community namely Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi who was later dropped resulting in wide resentment in the community.
Giving the example of Ludhiana, the Congress leader said Ludhiana has four representatives in Vidhan Sabha and non-jatt Sikh community holds a dominant hand on three of these seats that is Ludhiana Central, Ludhiana West and Atam Nagar.
Assembly polls in Punjab are slated for early next year.
( With inputs from ANI )
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