Gujarat Titans Captain Shubman Gill To Don New Role For State Of Punjab Ahead Of Lok Sabha Polls

Chandigarh: Star India cricketer Shubman Gill has been designated as the ‘state icon’ by the Punjab Chief Electoral Officer’s office ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Gill, an U-19 World Cup winner and a rising star in Indian cricket, is currently with the Indian team for the ongoing Test series against England at home. The 23-year-old will be engaging in various election campaigns urging the voters to exercise their voting rights, creating an awareness in the process, Chief Electoral Officer Sibin C said on Monday.

The poll panel has set the target of “Is Vaar 70 Paar”. Punjab had recorded a voter turnout of 65.96 in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls for the 13 seats. The development took place in a meeting chaired by Sibin with all deputy commissioners of Punjab on Friday. He has also asked the authorities to identify areas where the voting percentage was low during the last elections.

He said that awareness campaigns and appeals made by Shubman Gill in such areas would motivate the voters and help increase the turnout. Earlier, popular Punjabi singer Tarsem Jassar had been selected as a ‘state icon’ and he too would conduct similar campaigns, he said.

The CEO expressed hope that the first-time voters would be influenced by Shubman Gill and Tarsem Jassar, and exercise their franchise, while also appealing to the people of other age groups to vote in large numbers. The Lok Sabha polls are likely to be held in April-May.

As far his game is concerned, Gill is slowly setting his foot at No.3 in the longest format of the game in the ongoing series. Coming in under a lot of pressure for not making his starts into big knocks at his new batting position in Tests, Gill shut his critics with a hundred and a 91 against England.

Meanwhile, Gill has been entrusted with a new responsibility for the upcoming season of IPL. The right-handed opener in white-ball cricket has been made the new captain of the Gujarat Titans franchise after Hardik Pandya rejoined his former side and five-time IPL winners Mumbai Indians.

This will be a completely new role for Gill at Gujarat Titans as the youngster hasn’t led any side in his career so far. For the unknown, Gujarat Giants made their IPL debut in 2022 and won the title under Pandya. In the last edition, Pandya led Gujarat Titans to the final before losing to Chennai Super Kings.