Sandeep
Jakhar
Rooted in Abohar. Working for its future.
A third-generation public servant from Punjab's kinnow country, Sandeep Jakhar represents Abohar in the Punjab Legislative Assembly, carrying forward a family legacy of service that stretches from the fields of Fazilka to the Speaker's chair of the Lok Sabha.
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Votes won in 2022
37.5% share, a margin of 5,471
1 of 18
Congress seats held against the wave
Abohar stood with him amid AAP's 92-seat sweep
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Assembly questions raised
vs. a state average of 12 (PRS MLA Track)
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Generations of service
From Dr. Balram Jakhar to today
From the world back to Abohar
Born on 21 May 1976 into Abohar's most storied political family, Sandeep Jakhar was schooled at Mayo College, Ajmer, trained in hospitality management at the Hotel Institute of Montreux in Switzerland, and took his B.Sc. from Florida International University in Miami in 2001. He went on to head a country club in Florida before coming home to Punjab.
Back in Abohar, he returned to the family's twin callings: agriculture, the profession he declares to this day, and public life. He served as District President of the Youth Congress in Punjab and grew up in the shadow of his father Surinder Jakhar, the four-term IFFCO chairman who put farmers at the centre of India's cooperative movement.
In 2022, Abohar sent him to the Punjab Legislative Assembly, one of just eighteen seats in all of Punjab to return a Congress MLA against that year's sweep. He has since been among the more active first-time legislators, raising well above the average number of questions and keeping Abohar's farmers, traders and young people at the centre of his work.
Abohar stood apart, and stood with him
In March 2022 a wave took 92 of Punjab's 117 seats. Abohar was one of just eighteen constituencies in the entire state to return a Congress MLA against it, and it stood with Sandeep Jakhar.
Head to head · Abohar
Sandeep JakharINC
49,92437.5%
Deep KambojAAP
44,45333.4%
Margin of victory: +5,471 votes
All 117 seats in Punjab · 2022
Source: Election Commission of India results, 2022 Punjab Legislative Assembly election (via ADR/MyNeta).
अपना अबोहर, अपनी आभा
“Our Abohar, our radiance”: the cleanliness movement he convenes
Long before the oath of office, there was the drive. Since 2021, Sandeep Jakhar has led his volunteers, Team SJ, into Abohar's streets, parks, fairgrounds and cremation grounds, drive after drive: more than 125 of them across all 50 wards of the city. And when Abohar's sanitation workers went on strike, the MLA climbed into the JCB and drove the tractor himself.
Every camp carries the same message: shun single-use plastic, keep your own street clean, and treat the city as your own courtyard.
Through the Jakhar Trust, built in memory of his father Surinder Jakhar, the work runs deeper still: the Abohar Marathon, the all-India rural cricket tournament at Panjkosi, kabaddi and fitness meets, and health camps. All of it continues the campaign his father began two decades ago, Nashon se Door, Khelon ki Aur: away from drugs, towards sport.
Except Abohar MLA Sandeep Jakhar, no other politician has raised the issue.
Organising this marathon is the icing on the cake. MLAs across Punjab should emulate the Apna Abohar, Apni Abha campaign.
No other leader had informed him about the situation till date.
Five years, on the ground
Team SJ transforms the derelict space under the rail overbridge into a mini park, a full year before he holds any office.
Hands the Chief Minister a costed list of Abohar's stalled works: the bus stand, the old grain market, the government college road.
After the two-day Sawan fair, Team SJ clears tonnes of waste from the Panjpeer Dargah fairground.
Leads farmers demanding canal relining begin from the tail-end villages, invoking his grandfather's 1973 watercourse plan.
6th Abohar Marathon: 10,000+ on the start line against drugs. He cleans the venue with his volunteers, then runs the 10 km himself.
Sanitation strike: the MLA drives the tractor and works the JCB himself so the city's garbage doesn't wait.
Demands a medical college for Abohar, part of a running campaign, since 2022, to staff the Civil Hospital with specialists.
Three generations in the service of Punjab
Few families in Indian public life have given as much, for as long. From the Lok Sabha Speaker's chair to the cooperative movement to the Punjab Assembly.
Grandfather
Dr. Balram Jakhar
- Longest-serving Speaker of the Lok Sabha (1980–89)
- Union Agriculture Minister (1991–96)
- Governor of Madhya Pradesh (2004–09)
The patriarch who took Abohar's voice to the highest chambers of Indian democracy. He is still the only Speaker to preside over two successive full Lok Sabhas.
Father
Surinder Jakhar
- Four-term Chairman of IFFCO
- A lifelong builder of the cooperative movement
He led Asia's cooperative fertiliser giant and put the farmer at the centre of its story, until his untimely passing in 2011.
Uncle
Sunil Jakhar
- MLA, Abohar: 2002, 2007 & 2012
- Leader of Opposition, Punjab Vidhan Sabha (2012–15)
- MP, Gurdaspur (2017–19) · Punjab BJP President (2023–26)
One of Punjab's most respected political voices across party lines, who represented Abohar for fifteen years.
Moments in history
From Buckingham Palace to Parliament House: four decades of the family in the room where it happened.
c. 1980
1984
2005
2007
2022From Abohar to the world, and home again
An education across three continents, a grounding in the soil of Fazilka, and a mandate from the people of Abohar.
1976
Born in Abohar
Born on 21 May into the Jakhar family of Panjkosi, a household where public service was the family trade.
1998
Mayo College to Montreux
After Mayo College, Ajmer, he trained in hospitality management at the Hotel Institute of Montreux, Switzerland.
2001
Graduation in Miami
Took his B.Sc. from Florida International University and went on to head a country club in Florida.
2000s
Return to the land
Came home to Abohar and to agriculture, his declared profession to this day, and served as District President of the Youth Congress in Punjab.
2021
Apna Abohar, Apni Abha
Before holding any office, he was leading volunteers into Abohar's streets. His cleanliness movement, Team SJ, has since run more than 125 drives across all 50 wards of the city.
2022
Elected MLA from Abohar
Won the Abohar seat with 49,924 votes, defeating the AAP wave that took 92 of Punjab's 117 seats, becoming the third generation of his family in elected office.
2023
Family and Abohar above party
Suspended by the Congress in August 2023 for 'anti-party activities'. The party's notice cited his refusal to disown his uncle Sunil Jakhar after his move to the BJP, his criticism of the state leadership, and his absence from party programmes. He chose family and constituency, and has carried on serving as Abohar's MLA without joining any other party.
Today
Abohar's voice in the Vidhan Sabha
An active first-time legislator, with 21 questions against a state average of 12, focused on farmers, the kinnow economy, and Abohar's future beyond party lines.
What he is working for
Abohar is kinnow orchards and cotton fields, a historic mandi town, and one of Asia's largest open wildlife sanctuaries. Its future is the whole of his politics.
01The kinnow economy
Abohar is India's kinnow capital, and the orchard is where his politics begins. Better prices, processing capacity and market linkages for the orchardists whose fruit defines the region.
02Farmers first
Agriculture is his declared profession and his politics. From the DAP shortage to the kinnow price crash to canal water for the tail-end villages, he has taken Abohar's farm crises to the Chief Minister's door, and he has raised well above the average number of questions in the Vidhan Sabha.
03Abohar's natural heritage
Abohar is home to one of Asia's largest open wildlife sanctuaries: some 46,000 unfenced acres across thirteen Bishnoi villages. The Bishnoi community has protected the blackbuck here for generations, and they are a living symbol of the harmony he wants development to preserve.
04Education & the next generation
Building on a family tradition of institution-building, he champions Abohar's schools and colleges so its young people can build their futures at home.
The public record
A legislator should be easy to check up on. His attendance, questions, affidavit and biography are open. Read them at the source.