Nothing official about it, yet, but Harsimrat Badal has already hit the ground running in Bathinda

Scuttling between locations across her constituency, having meals with party workers and lending a keen ear to the people’s issues are some things that three-time Bathinda Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal has been doing on a daily basis over the past few weeks despite not being formally announced as the party’s candidate from the seat.

Exuding confidence about her candidature and victory, Harsimrat calls herself “the best candidate”, “always present with and for the masses”. “I am their voice in Parliament. I am like a ground-level party worker and people know they can rely on me.”

A former Union minister and the winner the past three times from Bathinda, Harsimrat adds: “I am always there while seasonal frogs show up only during election time.”

Harsimrat’s daily itinerary seems as packed as an official candidate’s. On Sunday, she participated in various events held on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti in different locations across the constituency. On Monday, she held a series of public meetings throughout the day.

While in 2009, Harsimrat trumped then senior Congress leader Amarinder Singh’s son Raninder Singh by a margin of over 1 lakh votes, she defeated her brother-in-law Manpreet Singh Badal, fighting on a Congress ticket, five years later. In 2019, she defeated current Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring.

Punjab votes in one go on June 1, the final phase of the Lok Sabha polls, and Bathinda seems headed for a four-cornered contest. If fielded, Harsimrat will be up against Congress’s Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu, who returned to the party from the SAD in November last year and state agriculture minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Though the BJP is yet to officially