 "From pad woman to politician: The rise of AAP’s Jeevan Jyot Kaur who defeated political bigwigs Sidhu and Majithia")
The Aam Aadmi Party swept Punjab, winning a record 92 of the 117 assembly seats, and starring in its win is Jeevan Jyot Kaur, popularly known as “pad woman” for promoting reusable pads. The Amritsar East candidate is now being celebrated as the “giant slayer” who defeated the state’s star politicians Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu and Shiromani Akali Dal’s Bikram Singh Majithia. During the high-octane election campaign, as all eyes were fixed on Sidhu and Majitha, Kaur continued to maintain a low profile and did what she does best – win the hearts of people by letting her work do the talking.
This was Kaur’s first election – now a first win, a resounding one at that – against two big names who had not been defeated before. Kaur bagged 39,520 votes, according to the Election Commission of India website; Sidhu was in second place with 32,807 votes and Majithia secured 25,112 votes. The fourth candidate in the fray was Bharatiya Janata Party’s Jagmohan Singh Raju, a former IAS officer, who got 7,255 votes. The victory was predicted by Kaur, 50, who went door to door while campaigning, establishing a connection with the people of Amritsar East disgruntled by big politicians who make even bigger promises but fail to fulfil them. In a February tweet, which now seems prophetic, Kaur said that Sidhu and Majitha’s defeat was inevitable; in this fight, it was “people of Amritsar + AAP” vs “Cong + SAD”.
From Padwoman to politician For decades, Kaur has been doing social work in Punjab and she earned the title Amritsar’s “pad woman” for starting an initiative – EcoShe – to distribute eco-friendly sanitary napkins to inmates in prisons across the state. Kaur’s foray into social work started in 1996 when she set up a non-profit Sri Hemkunt Education (SHE). It runs a school for the underprivileged that aims to “empower students by providing quality education”. Kaur believes it’s a significant step in taking Punjab closer to its dream of creating a drug-free state. It’s her selfless work for the upliftment of Punjab’s common man that drew AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal’s attention. Kaur joined the party in 2016. She was AAP’s only woman volunteer in the Mathija region in 2017 but helped the party significantly in the election campaign. After the polls, she was appointed co-president of AAP’s women’s wing. She worked as the campaign coordinator for the 2019 parliamentary elections, and for AAP national spokesperson Raghav Chadha ahead of the 2020 Delhi assembly elections, reports The Print. During the 2022 campaign, Kaur was not the one to give speeches on a big stage and draw lakhs of spectators. Instead, she relied on door-to-door campaigning and jan san sads, which she held every day to hear out voters and their expectations from their leaders. She has one big agenda – to focus on developmental issues. Her promises are not big but practical, providing clean drinking water, fixing broken sewages, and fixing high tension wires dangerously dangling over residential areas. Jeevan Jyot Kaur is Amrtisar’s Everywoman and now that she has won, she is there to make everyday life easier for her people. With inputs from agencies Click here for latest updates on Assembly Elections 2022 Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram .