Aman Sood
Once attached with royalty, the Nabha (reserved) constituency lacks clean drinking water, underground sewerage, proper garbage disposal and other basic amenities despite having its MLA Sadhu Singh Dharamsot on the Cabinet for over four years. A visit to the interiors is enough to prove that a lot of work still needs to be done. “Recovery of drugs from some nearby villages and complete politicisation of the police in Nabha has troubled us for long. Even for a minor accident case, the police waits for a political signal,” allege local residents Rajbir Singh and Jaspal Singh. Villagers said the expenditure on the construction of ponds needed to be probed as works are still incomplete.
Past trend
Since 2002, Nabha had been sending a Congress MLA to the Vidhan Sabha, until 2012 when SAD’s Balwant Singh Shahpur defeated Sadhu Singh Dharmsot. SAD-BJP fielded turncoat Kabir Dass in 2017, but he lost to Dharamsot, who remained in Cabinet for over four years.
Electorate strength
- Total voters 1,81,138
- Male 94,476
- Female 86,655
- Third gender 7
Locals’ key demands
- Better road infrastructure
- Garbage dumps
- Functional streetlights
- Efficient policing
The SAD-BSP has fielded turncoat Kabir Dass, who was earlier senior deputy Mayor during the Congress rule in Patiala. He had lost the last polls to Dharamsot in Nabha in 2017. Dharamsot had won in 2012 by defeating SAD’s Balwant Singh by 22,548 votes. In 2007, he had won from Amloh but shifted to Nabha after Amloh was declared reserved.
Dharamsot has been actively visiting the constituency ever since he was shunted out of the Cabinet two months ago.
Growth leaves much to be desired
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