Explained: why Congress picked outsider Raj Babbar for Gurgaon battle? There's a Punjabi tadka

Congress has fielded actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar from Haryana's Gurgaon Lok Sabha constituency. Babbar's candidature from Gurgaon appears to be a strategic move of the grand old party.

After the 2009 polls, Congress was wiped out of Gurgaon but what came as a surprise is that for the first time, Congress has fielded a non-Yadav candidate from the crucial seat.

The departure of the traditional selection process marks a shift in the Congress strategy for the constituency. It is worth noting that Gurgaon enjoys a diverse voter base with 2,546,916 voters, of whom 1,347,521 are male, 1,199,317 are female and 78 are transgenders. Moreover, Gurgaon has around 300,000 Punjabi voters, a community that Babbar belongs to.

However, Congress' move to field Raj Babbar was applauded by BJP. The Bharatiya Janata Party said that Babbar is an outsider in Gurgaon and because of this, BJP will yield good results.

Babbar will contest against BJP veteran and Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh, who won this seat in 2014, 2019 and is seeking a third term from Gurgaon constituency.

Whereas, Raj Babbar has served as Lok Sabha thrice and Rajya Sabha member twice. In 2009 Lok Sabha by-polls, he even won against Dimple Yadav from Firozabad Lok Sabha seat by a huge margin.

Also watch: 'To crush senior leaders': Ajay Singh Yadav slams Congress after it fields Raj Babbar from Gurugram