Five members of an influential family in Adampur are set to contest from five of the 13 wards of the Municipal Council elections scheduled for May 26.
Darshan Singh Karwal, who is the outgoing president of the Adampur MC, is himself contesting from Ward no. 5. His daughter-in-law Dr Simran Paul Karwal, who is a physician, is contesting from Ward no. 7, his brother Harjinder Singh Karwal is a candidate from Ward no. 13, Harjinder Karwal’s wife Sandeep Kaur Karwal is a candidate from Ward no. 9 and Darshan Karwal’s nephew Parminder Singh Karwal, who is an advocate, is contesting from Ward no. 11.
All five candidates are members of the Karwal group which is supported by the Congress and other factions. The Congress has not fielded any candidate on party symbol ‘hand’ in Adampur. The group has fielded candidates on all 13 wards, with 12 of them contesting on the symbol ‘tractor’. “We could not get tractor symbol for one ward, where we have taken ‘LPG cylinder’ as our symbol”, said Darshan Karwal, who is leading them all.
Karwal and his two brothers had earlier contested on three seats in 2015 and won. The family owns a marriage palace in the town besides an LPG agency. This is for the first time that they have also fielded two candidates from their next generation.
Interestingly, the Karwal group is directly taking on the Aam Aadmi Party in Adampur, which is led by ex-MLA and Adampur halqa incharge Pawan Tinu. The BSP has fielded four candidates, all without party symbol. With Shiromani Akali Dal having no halqa in-charge or prominent face in Adampur, the party has not fielded any candidate.
On the Congress not using its symbol for the MC polls, party MLA Sukhwinder Kotli said, “We did not use symbol even in the last elections. We know that the Karwals will have an easy win because of their influence in the town. We are mainly focusing on the remaining eight wards and are contesting it fiercely.
