Nearly two weeks after the results of Victoria elections came out, SBS Punjabi reached out to some candidates of the Punjabi community who had tried their luck in Melbourne, but none of them could make it to the finish line. In line with the 'never say die' Punjabi attitude, even as they deconstruct what went wrong for them or their party, they still have their chin up and nothing has discouraged from jumping into the electoral fray the next time too.
The Liberal Party was rather generous in handing out election tickets to Australians of Indian origin. Gurdawar Singh, a Punjabi taxi driver, who contested under this party’s flag from Thomastown, managed to get a total of 7,859, which makes for 22.8 per cent of the total votes polled in the electorate after preferences. Considering he was a rookie and pitted against Ms Bronwyn Halfpenny, who has been winning this seat since 2010 and is a sitting MP from the Labor Party, his performance can’t be termed poor by any measure. Ms Halfpenny, who won Thomastown, got 26,608 votes, which was 77.2 per cent of the total votes after preferences. When SBS Punjabi asked him of his post-election analysis, he made no bones about saying that the Liberal party didn’t give them enough time to prepare for elections. “The party announced our candidature only two weeks before election day,” said Mr Singh, who also highlighted that the Liberal Party’s leadership spill in Canberra cost them dearly in Victoria. In addition to these reasons, he admits he relied too heavily upon taxi drivers and their families to vote for him because he assumed they were cross with Daniel Andrews government for deregularising taxi licence plates in 2016. However, he intends to content the next elections despite the defeat.
Another Liberal Party candidate of Punjabi origin, Lakhwinder Singh, also a taxi driver, and a proven “honest” one at that, claimed 9,906, which makes for 25.11 per cent of the total votes cast after preferences in Mill Park. Also a newbie in electoral politics, he fought against Labor’s Ms Lily D’Ambrosio, who is Victoria’s Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change and has been a state member from Mill Park since 2002. Ms D’Ambrosio clocked 29,545 votes after preferences, which make up 74.89 per cent of the total vote share. Mr Singh echoes Mr Gurdawar’s views that the Liberal Party didn’t allow them enough time to campaign. He adds: “Liberals focused on cost of living and law and order, whereas to me, it seems people didn’t give much attention to that. They were rather highly appreciative of the infrastructure development projects undertaken by the Labor government.” Mr Singh says he’s proud of his performance and it hasn’t dissuaded him from trying his luck next time. In 2013, Mr Singh had returned $1,10,000 to a passenger who had forgotten his bagful of money in his taxi. This incident got wide media coverage in Australia.
Naresh Bhalla, who contested on the Greens Party’s ticket from Forest Hill, believes he didn’t lack in any way during his campaign. However, he says the Greens Party hasn’t yet debriefed the candidates after the results came out. Mr Bhalla says he has been able to help people in his electorate relate to the policies of the Greens Party. “I’ve been able to maintain the percentage of our party’s voteshare in our area. However, everything needs improvement always, so whenever the party arranges our debriefing sessions, we’ll let you know where we lagged,” said Mr Bhalla to SBS Punjabi. Liberal Party’s Neil Angus was elected as the member from Forest Hill.
In Melbourne’s west, Pratibha Sharma contested as an independent candidate from Werribee. Even though she has only got 627 votes, her confidence hasn’t dipped. “I don’t think I have lagged in any way. I don’t see my votes as 627 ballots, rather the support of 627 families,” said an upbeat Ms Sharma, who added that she took the decision to jump into the electoral fray only about a month before election day. However, she hasn’t ruled out joining forces with a political party next time.
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Lakhwinder Singh got wide media coverage when he returned $1,10,000 to a passenger in his taxi. Source: Supplied
Naresh Bhalla contested as the Greens candidate from Forest Hill, Melbourne. Source: Supplied
Independent candidate Pratibha Sharma took on the Victorian Treasurer in Werribee. Source: Supplied
