Sunil Jakhar is an Indian politician and member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, previously a member of the Indian National Congress. He was the President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (2017- 2021). As a member of the Congress, Jakhar represented the Abohar assembly constituency from 2002 to 2012. From 2012 to 2017, he served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly. After serving as a member of the Congress for five decades till 2022, he joined the BJP.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Sunil Kumar Jakhar was born on Tuesday, 9 February 1954 (age 70 years; as in 2024) in Panjkosi, Punjab. His zodiac sign is Aquarius. After completing his Bachelor of Arts from a government college in Chandigarh in 1974, he earned a Master of Business Administration from Kurukshetra University, Haryana (1997).
Family
parents and siblings
Sunil Jakhar belongs to a Hindu Jat family. His father, Balram Jakhar, was an Indian politician who served as Speaker of the Lok Sabha and Governor of Madhya Pradesh. Balram Jakhar, who died in 2016, served as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha for two consecutive terms from 1980 to 1989, becoming the longest serving Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
Sunil Jakhar’s father, Balram Jakhar
Sunil is the youngest among three siblings. Sunil’s eldest brother Sajjan Kumar Jakhar was the Agriculture Minister in Beant Singh’s government in Punjab. In 1997, Sajjan Kumar contested the Punjab Assembly elections from Abohar Assembly constituency on Congress ticket. Sajjan was defeated by BJP candidate Ram Kumar in the election. Subsequently, Sajjan’s political journey came to a halt when the party did not give him a ticket in 2002. Sunil’s elder brother Surinder was a farmers’ rights activist, but he never entered electoral politics. Surinder accidentally shot himself in 2011.
wife and children
His wife, Sylvia Jakhar, is a housewife and hails from Switzerland.
Sunil Jakhar and Sylvia Jakhar
other relatives
Sunil Jakhar’s nephew, Ajay Veer Jakhar (Sajjan’s son), served as the Chairman of the Punjab State Farmers Commission (2017–2021).
Ajay Veer Jakhar
Address
permanent address
Panjkosi, teh. Abohar, Dist. Fazilka-152128, Punjab
current address
Punjab Bhawan, Copernicus Marg, New Delhi-110001
political career
Indian National Congress
1996 general election
He started his journey as a politician when he contested the Firozpur Lok Sabha constituency on an Indian National Congress (INC) ticket in the 1996 general elections. This seat was won by Mohan Singh Faliawala of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
2002 Punjab Legislative Assembly election
In 2002, Sunil Jakhar contested elections from Abohar assembly constituency. He won the election by defeating independent candidate Sudhir Nagpal by 7339 votes.
2007 Punjab Legislative Assembly election
In 2007, Sunil Jakhar had contested elections from Abohar assembly constituency. He won the election by defeating BJP candidate Ram Kumar by 17, 201 votes.
2012 Punjab Legislative Assembly election
In 2012, Sunil Jakhar had contested elections from Abohar assembly constituency. He won the election by defeating independent candidate Shiv Lal Doda. From 2012 to 2017, he served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly.
2014 Indian general election
In 2014, he contested the Lok Sabha elections from Firozpur Lok Sabha constituency, losing to SAD’s Sher Singh Ghubaya by a margin of 31,420 votes.
2017 Punjab Legislative Assembly election
In 2017, Sunil Jakhar had contested elections from Abohar assembly constituency. He was defeated by BJP candidate Arun Narang, who won the election by a margin of 3279 votes.
2017 Gurdaspur by-election
In 2017, after the death of actor-turned-politician Vinod Khanna of BJP, by-election was announced for Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat. Jakhar contested the election and won the seat by defeating BJP candidate Swarn Singh Salaria by 1,93,199 votes. As an MP, he was a member of the Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests.
2019 Indian general election
In 2019, Sunil Jakhar had contested the elections from Gurdaspur Lok Sabha constituency. He was defeated by popular Indian actor and BJP candidate Sunny Deol by a margin of 82,459 votes.
Leave Congress in 2022
Days after receiving notice from the Congress high command, Sunil Jakhar resigned from all posts in the Indian National Congress on 14 May 2022; He made his decision to leave Congress public through a Facebook Live video, in which he ended his address by wishing Congress all the best and goodbye. He said,
This is my parting gift, my last words to the Congressmen. I have highlighted those things which require thinking and not thinking camp. All the best and goodbye Congress.”
Bharatiya Janata Party
In May 2022, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying that he wanted to support “nationalism, unity and brotherhood in Punjab”. While addressing the media after joining BJP, Jakhar fiercely targeted Congress in the context of Punjab’s first Dalit Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi. He accused the party of insulting the spirit of brotherhood in Punjab by trying to divide the state on the basis of castes, communities and percentage of religion.
Sunil Jakhar joins BJP in presence of party president JP Nadda
On 2 December 2022, he was inducted as a member of the BJP’s National Executive along with Captain Amarinder Singh.
controversies
Allegation of violation of election conduct rules
In 2012, Akali Dal leader Shiv Lal Doda filed an election petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court against Sunil Jakhar, challenging the result of the 2012 Punjab Legislative Assembly election. Doda claimed that due to incorrect publication of the ballot paper, his voters and supporters, especially illiterate people, cast their votes in favor of the person at serial number 1 (Jakhar) as they failed to find Doda’s name at the end of the ballot paper. , The election petition was dismissed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court saying that the petition was completely frivolous and vexatious and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on Doda.
Linking Sukhbir Singh Badal with Bhim Tank killer Shiv Lal Doda
In 2017, Jakhar filed a complaint with the Chief Electoral Officer of Punjab for providing seven mobile phone numbers which, according to Jakhar, were being used by Akali Dal leader Shiv Lal Doda and his nephew Amit Doda in Fazilka jail. Shiv Lal Doda and Amit Doda were lodged in Fazilka jail after being accused in the Bhim Tank murder case of Abohar. During a press conference, Jakhar claimed that a DGP level officer of Punjab Police was also in touch with Doda on a regular basis through these phone numbers and demanded a fair investigation. Reportedly, Jakhar also informed the Election Commission of India about the raid on Fazilka jail, after which it was revealed that Shiv Lal Doda had violated jail laws by illegally meeting 24 outsiders inside the jail premises . Jakhar also claimed that providing such facilities to Doda could not have happened without the active support of Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal, who was serving as the Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab at that time.
anti scheduled caste comments
In April 2022, Dalits filed a complaint against Sunil Jakhar for alleged remarks against the community and claimed that his objectionable language had hurt the sentiments of Dalits. Apparently, after Congress’s defeat to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections, Jakhar had indirectly targeted Charanjit Singh Channi, who became the first Dalit CM of the state and considered him a liability to the party. Told. In his tweet, Jakhar called Channi a liability and blamed him for dragging down the Congress in Punjab.
A property – are you kidding?
Thank God he was not declared a ‘National Treasure’ by the ‘PBI’ lady in the CWC who first proposed him as Chief Minister
He may be an asset for him but for the party he has become only a liability. Not the top leadership, but his own greed pulled him and the party down pic.twitter.com/Lnf6vJgRzF
– Sunil Jakhar (@sunilkjakar) 14 March 2022
After the incident, members of Sri Guru Ravidas Federation Punjab and Satguru Ravidas Dharma Samaj Punjab burnt the effigy of Sunil Jakhar. Later, Sunil Jakhar paid obeisance at Sant Ravidas Janmasthan temple in Varanasi to seek unconditional apology.
Sri Guru Ravidas Federation members protest against Sunil Jakhar in Ludhiana over anti-SC remarks
Disciplinary action by Congress
Following his anti-SC comments, AICC issued a show cause notice against Sunil Jakhar for going against the party line and sought a reply within a week. Following this, there was speculation that Jakhar would be suspended for a period of two years and removed from all party posts. When the deadline to respond to the notice ended, Jakhar refused to respond and said he was ready to face action.
property and properties
movable property
- Deposits in banks, financial institutions and non-banking financial companies: Rs 8,60,38,105
- Bonds, debentures and shares in companies: Rs 20,09,133
- Personal Loan/Advance given: Rs 3,71,345
- Motor vehicle: Rs 1,00,079
- Value of other assets, such as claims/interests: Rs 1,29,45,673
Immovable property
- Agricultural land: Rs 2,67,70,146
- Commercial Building: Rs 2,00,000
- Residential building: Rs 12,25,04,180
In May 2019, Sunil Jakhar declared deposits of over Rs 7.37 crore in Zurcher Cantonal Bank in Zurich, Switzerland in his wife’s name. Jakhar also declared that he and his wife owned immovable assets worth Rs 2,88,41,688 and Rs 1,20,63,26,638 respectively.
net worth
His net worth as of 2019 is Rs 25,17,62,701
Facts/General Knowledge
- Sunil Jakhar broke the record of Gurdaspur Lok Sabha constituency by winning the 2017 Gurdaspur by-election by 1.93 lakh votes. The previous record for winning by the highest margin in the constituency was held by former Congress MP Sukhbans Kaur Bhinder, who won by a margin of 1.51 lakh votes in 1980.
- In the 1996 general elections, Sunil Sikar wanted to contest from the Lok Sabha constituency, the seat his politician father had previously represented twice, but instead, he was instructed by the Congress to contest from the Ferozepur Lok Sabha seat. In an interview, Sunil said he attributed this change to his defeat in the 1996 general elections.
- Like Sunil, his father Balram had also held the post of Leader of Opposition (1977). Subsequently, he completed his graduation in Central Politics in 1980.
- Jakhar announced that he was quitting electoral politics on the same day that Rahul Gandhi announced then CM Charanjit Singh Channi as the party’s chief ministerial candidate for the Punjab Legislative Assembly elections, 2022. Jakhar revealed that he was upset because party leaders believed that a Sikh face would be suitable for the CM post. He then claimed that the party did not choose him as the chief ministerial face because he is a Hindu.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn