CHANDIGARH: While almost every political party contesting the assembly polls in Punjab has rolled out a social engineering formula in fielding candidates, they seem to have not given any importance to the ex-servicemen community during nominations this time. This is even though Punjab is one of the largest contributors of soldiers into the armed forces and has lakhs of veterans.
A scrutiny of the records revealed that there are hardly four-five candidates from the ex-servicemen fraternity from all the political outfits who have been given tickets for the assembly polls. Former chief minister Amarinder Singh’s Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) has fielded two military veterans — Capt from Patiala and retired Subedar Bhola Singh Hasanpur from Budhlada. One of the largest political outfits of Punjab, the SAD has given only one ticket to an ex-serviceman — Capt Harminder Singh, who has been fielded from Sultanpur Lodhi.
