Cong maintains dominance in Malwa

Voters of Punjab’s largest geographical zone have rejected prominent candidates such as AAP ministers Gumeet Khudian from Bathinda and Dr Balbir Singh from Patiala and two legislators of the political dispensation in Punjab — Ashok Parashar Pappi from Ludhiana and Jagdeep Singh Kaka Brar from Ferozepur.

BATHINDA

Dr Dharamvir Gandhi of the Congress being congratulated by party leaders and supporters in Patiala on Tuesday. (ANI)

The Congress managed to match its electoral dominance of 2019 Lok Sabha elections in the Malwa region by winning half of the eight parliamentary seats after breaching the political bastion of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

In the 2019 polls, the Congress had four MPs from the Malwa belt, including Preneet Kaur (Patiala), Ravneet Singh Bittu (Ludhiana), Mohammad Sadique (Faridkot) and Dr Amar Singh (Fatehgarh Sahib).

In the 2022 assembly elections, the AAP gained political ground in the state by winning 92 out of 117 seats. However, the Congress regained its lost space on the anti-incumbency of the ruling AAP government and the INDIA bloc’s strategy to combat the BJP electorally on the issues of the Centre’s “indifferent attitude” toward the farmers and the agrarian crisis.

In the 2024 polls, voters of Punjab’s largest geographical zone rejected prominent candidates such as AAP ministers Gumeet Khudian from Bathinda and Dr Balbir Singh from Patiala and two legislators of the political dispensation in Punjab --- Ashok Parashar Pappi from Ludhiana and Jagdeep Singh Kaka Brar from Ferozepur.

Harsimrat Kaur Badal of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) was elected for the record fourth consecutive term from the Bathinda seat. The former Union minister, the only Akali candidate to win, polled 3.75 lakh votes and defeated AAP candidate and state agriculture minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian by 49,656 votes. Harsimrat’s winning margin was the highest in the last elections she contested.

Fighting its first Lok Sabha elections alone after it ended a decades-long alliance with the BJP, the SAD reached out to its core Sikh base, raising both Operation Bluestar and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The party mobilised all its resources in Bathinda to consolidate its traditional vote base in the urban and rural areas of the constituency.

After facing a setback in 2022 Lok Sabha bypoll, AAP has retained its capital, Sangrur, with a thumping victory. AAP candidate and minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer emerged victorious by a margin of 1.69 lakh votes by defeating Sukhpal Singh Khaira of the Congress. Outgoing MP and SAD (Amritsar) president Simranjit Singh Mann, finished third.

Congress won the prestigious Ludhiana seat for the fourth consecutive with state Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring emerging victorious by defeating BJP’s Ravneet Singh Bittu by a margin of 20,942 votes.

The three-time Congress MP Bittu had switched loyalty to the saffron party before the polls.

In Patiala, Dr Dharamvira Gandhi of the Congress defeated Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate and Punjab health minister Dr Balbir Singh by a margin of 14,831 votes. While Dr Gandhi polled 3,05,616 votes, Dr Balbir got 2,90,785.

At 2,88,998 votes, sitting MP and BJP candidate Preneet Kaur finished third.

In Fatehgarh Sahib, sitting MP and Congress candidate Dr Amar Singh defeated his nearest rival, AAP’s Gurpreet Singh GP, by a margin of 34,202 votes. The AAP managed to win the Anandpur Sahib seat from the Congress in a tough bipolar contest. AAP’s Malwinder Kang defeated veteran Vijay Inder Singla of Congress by a narrow margin of 10,846 votes.

SAD candidate and former MP from Anandpur Sahib Prem Singh Chandumajra finished fourth with only 10.95% of vote share. BJP’s Dr Subhash Sharma, however, performed better and finished third with a 17. 32% vote share.

Scripting a history, Independent Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa, son of former prime minister Indira Gandhi’s assassin Beant Singh, won the Faridkot Lok Sabha constituency by a margin of 70,053.

Sarabjeet was polled 2,98,062 votes, while AAP candidate and Punjabi artist Karamjit Anmol got 2,28,009 votes. BJP’s Hans Raj Hans got 1,23,533 votes and finished a poor fourth.

Ferozepur witnessed a neck-and-neck contest in which two-time MP Sher Singh Ghubaya emerged victorious by a slender margin of 3,242, the narrowest in Punjab.

Ghubaya, a Dalit leader from the Rai Sikh community, polled 2,66,626 votes while his nearest rival Jagdeep Singh Kaka Brar of the AAP got 2,63384 votes. BJP’s Rana Gurmit Singh Rana Sodhi, a four-time MLA, stood third.

(With inputs from Tarsem Singh Deogan, Parteek Singh Mahal and Karam Prakash)