Punjab's poll stars go invisible these elections
Punjab's familiar campaigners have evaporated from the ground this Lok Sabha election. Neither seen, nor heard. Age explains the political inactivity of some, but even those who can still take the wear and tear of electoral politics are away from the front - unusual for those used to leading political units and their electoral campaigns.
Two-time chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh has been in political hibernation since demitting CM office in September 2021. He wasn't seen even on the day his wife, Preneet Kaur, filed her nomination papers from Patiala.
'Voice of Pb' loses volume
Jagmeet Singh Brar, once a big name in the state Congress and called Awaz-e-Punjab for his oratory, is out of all political circles since an AAP wave sank him in the 2022 assembly elections
Former state finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal, who moved to BJP, is recuperating from a heart surgery, but the party's Bathinda district unit wants to know why his loyal councillors aren't campaigning
Off the radar
Balwant Singh Ramoowalia was integral to Akali politics before he floated Lok Bhalai Party. The man who contested a parliamentary election as far back as 1977 has fallen off the political radar
Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi, a satirist as talented as chief minister Bhagwant Mann and once leader of Aam Aami Party's Punjab unit, has become another political ghost
Having served his sentence, former state Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu has returned to doing cricket commentary for the Indian Premier League (IPL), while his political group also plays from the sidelines
Silent sulker
One of the tallest Akali leaders, Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa has been sulking since his family rejoined the Shiromani Akali Dal but the party didn't field his son, Parminder Singh Dhindsa, from Sangrur
Once chief, now meek
Former state Congress president Shamsher Singh Dullo made a slight sputter against the party's choice of candidates, but that was not in the campaign stage
Lost cause
Sucha Singh Chhotepur, AAP's ousted Punjab president who had floated the Apna Punjab Party before re-entering the Akali fold in Dec 2021, is distant from politics since losing in the 2022 assembly polls from Batala
INACTIVE FAMILIES
The families of former CM Surjit Singh Barnala, SAD ex-president Jagdev Singh Talwandi, SGPC ex-chief
Gurcharan Singh Tohra, Kuldeep Singh Wadala, and ex-CM Harcharan Singh Brar are also inactive
THE EXCEPTION
The exceptions include Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, once Punjab Congress chief and state's chief minister briefly in 1996-97. She campaigned for the Congress candidate from Sangrur, Sukhpal Singh Khaira, but her aide Lal Singh is now a rare sight