IN THE new Vidhan Sabha, there are 12 doctors out of which 10 belong to the Aam Aadmi party (AAP).
Four out of these 12 doctors had unsuccessfully contested during 2017 Vidhan Sabha polls on AAP ticket from the same Vidhan Sabha seats, but lost. Assets of these doctors range from Rs 1 crore to Rs 36 crores. Here’s a look at them:
Kashmir Singh Sohal
Tarn Taran
He is a 62-year-old retired senior medical officer of the Punjab health department. An eye surgeon, he was involved with one Vikas Manch for various social activities after retirement. He was the founder president of PCMS specialists doctors’ association and even had unsuccessfully contested SGPC elections. He defeated SAD candidate Harmeet Singh Sandhu with a margin of 13,588 votes. His assets, according to the affidavit filed by him, are Rs 5 crore. Dr Sohal had resigned from government job in May, 2016.
Ravjot Singh
Sham chaurasi
He is a 45-year-old MD in medicine and runs his own hospital in Hoshiarpur district. He had also contested elections from the same constituency in 2017 on an AAP ticket, but had lost. This time he defeated Congress’s Pawan Kumar Adia by 21,356 votes. In 2017, his total assets were Rs 2 crore which rose to Rs 6 crore in 2022 as per the affidavit filed by the doctor.
Charanjit Singh
Chamkaur Sahib
Dr Charanjit Singh is an eye surgeon who runs his own hospital in Morinda. He is 61 years old . He defeated Congress’s CM face Charanjit Singh Channi by a margin of 7,942 votes. Channi was the sitting MLA of Chamkaur Sahib. Dr Charanjit Singh had unsuccessfully contested Vidhan Sabha polls in 2017 on AAP an ticket, but back then Channi had defeated him with a margin of 12,000 votes. In 2017, Dr Charanjit Singh’s assets were Rs 7 crores which increased to Rs 10.5 crores in 2022 as per the affidavit filed by the eye surgeon.
Inderbir Singh Nijjar
Amritsar South
He is a radiologist and runs a diagnostic centre in Amritsar. This was his second election. He is 66 years old. In 2017 too, he had contested on AAP ticket but lost. However, this time he defeated SAD’s Tejbir Singh Sidhu by a margin of 27,503 votes. His assets were Rs 23 crores in 2017 which increased to Rs 36 crores in 2022 according to his affidavit.
Jasbir Singh Sandhu
Amritsar West
He is a 44-year-old Bachelor of Eastern Medicine and Surgery. Dr Jasbir has total assets of Rs 2 crores. However, he defeated now former Punjab Medical Education minister Raj Kumar Verka by a huge margin of 43,913 votes.
Vijay Singla
Mansa
Dr Vijay Singla trounced Congress’s Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu Moosewala – a popular Punjabi singer who has millions of fans — by a huge margin of 63,323 votes.
Dr Singla holds a bachelor in dentistry and surgery (BDS) and is a private doctor.
He is 52 years old with total assets of Rs 6.5 crores. AAP’s wave was so strong in the state that the star factor of Moosewala did not work at all in Mansa which chose Dr Singla over the popular singer who had joined Congress in November, 2021.
In 2017 as well, Mansa had elected an AAP MLA Nazar Singh Manshahia, but he had defected to Congress in April, 2019 during Lok Sabha polls campaign, but even this factor did not go against AAP candidate.
Baljit Kaur
Malaut
This 46-year-old Ophthal-mologist took premature retirement from Punjab government job in November, 2021 to contest her maiden election and she defeated SAD’s former MLA, Harpreet Singh, with a margin of 40,621 votes. She has total assets worth Rs 1.2 crores as per the affidavit. Daughter of former AAP MP from Faridkot, Prof Sadhu Singh, Dr Baljit Kaur claims to be very concerned about health services as she started visiting hospitals soon after winning elections.
Amandeep Kaur Arora
Moga
Dr Amandeep (39) is a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from Crimea University, Ukraine. She was working as a doctor in ESI insurance corporation, but she quit her job to contest elections. She defeated Congress’s star power, Malvika Sood Sachar, who is sister of actor Sonu Sood with a huge margin of 20,915 votes. Although Malvika Sood was popular in her area for her philanthropic activities, she did not work against the wave of Badlaav. Her assets are Rs 2 crores as per the affidavit.
Balbir Singh
Patiala Rural
A retired associate professor who is working as private eye surgeon in Patiala, Dr Balbir Singh (65) had unsuccessfully contested Vidhan Sabha polls in 2017 on AAP ticket, but this time, he won with a bang.
He defeated Congress’s Mohit Mohindra with a margin of 53,474 votes. Mohindra is son of a former Congress minister Brahm Mohindra.
Mohindra remained a Cabinet minister in the 2017 Congress government, but this time his son contested. Meanwhile Dr Balbir’s assets were revealed to be Rs 8 crore in 2017 and they remained the same even in 2022, according to the affidavit submitted by him.
Ajay Gupta
Amritsar Central
He is a 61-year-old MBBS doctor who has his own private hospital in Amritsar. He was in Congress earlier, but joined AAP ahead of 2017 polls. He had unsuccessfully contested 2017 polls, but this time he defeated Punjab’s deputy CM O P Soni with a margin of 14,026 votes.
His assets increased from Rs 9 crore to 18 crore from 2017 to 2022 Vidhan Sabha polls as per the affidavit submitted by him.
DOCTORS IN OPPN
Raj Kumar Chabbewal
Chabbewal
Dr Chabbewal (52) is a radiologist and a Congress MLA who defeated AAP’s Harminder Singh with a margin of 7,646 votes. His assets increased from Rs 17 crore in 2017 to Rs 20 crore in 2022. He is a senior Congress leader.
Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi
Banga
Dr Sukhwinder Kumar won on a SAD ticket from Banga. He is 61- year-old ENT specialist who had won 2017 Vidhan Sabha polls too from the same seat on a SAD ticket and has now managed to retain it in 2022 as well. He defeated Congress’s Tarlochan Singh with a margin of 5,069 votes. His assets increased from rs 1.84 crores in 2017 to Rs 3.3 crores in 2022, according to the affidavit submitted by him along with nomination form.
