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Punjab polls | AAP clinches 13 out of 14 seats in Ludhiana
What was touted as a multi-cornered contest turned out to be a cakewalk for AAP as its candidates, most of them fresh faces, gave a crushing blow to 13 ruling MLAs, including two ministers in the previous Congress regime.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) scripted history in Ludhiana, clinching 13 of the total 14 assembly seats in the district with the sole exception of Dakha which was reclaimed by Manpreet Singh Ayali of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).
What was touted as a multi-cornered contest turned out to be a cakewalk for AAP as its candidates, most of them fresh faces, gave a crushing blow to 13 ruling MLAs, including two ministers in the previous Congress regime.
Bharat Bhushan Ashu, who was state food and supply minister, and Gurkirat Kotli, who became the state industry minister after Channi was made the CM in September last year, faced a humiliating defeat on their seats. While Ashu lost to his Gurpreet Singh Gogi of the AAP by 7,512 votes, Gurkirat Singh Kotli came third in Khanna securing just 19,711 votes. This was the first time that Gogi, who had once remained district Congress president and was considered a close aid of Ashu, contested assembly polls.
Famously called the Bains brothers of Ludhiana -- Simarjit Singh Bains and Balwinder Bains of the Lok Insaaf Party -- too suffered a blow and faced a humiliating defeat from Atam Nagar and Ludhiana South constituency respectively. Simarjit Singh Bains was booked in a rape case ahead of elections.
From Congress turncoats, including Gurpreet Singh Gogi, Kulwant Singh Sidhu, Ashok Prashar Pappi, Daljit Singh Bhola Grewal and SAD turncoat Madan Lal Bagga to newcomers like Rajinderpal Kaur Chhina who won from Ludhiana South, Tarunpreet Singh Sond from Khanna, Jagtar Singh Dayalpura from Samrala, the AAP candidates registered a thundering victory. Besides, previous winners, including Saravjit Kaur Manuke from Jagraon, reinstated their seat.
Dayalpura, an Australia-returnee and a marginal farmer from Samrala, had joined Arvind Kejriwal during the 2012 India Against Corruption agitation. Dayalpura garnered 5,71,226 votes, defeating Paramjit Singh Dhillon by 30,890 votes. Balbir Singh Rajewal, who was the chief ministerial face of the farmers front Sanyukt Samaj Morcha, finished a distant sixth from Samrala polling just 4,676 votes.
Manvinder Singh Giaspura, who won from Payal, is a former Lok Insaaf Party leader. He was a whistle-blower in the Hond Chillar village massacre in Haryana, in which several Sikhs were killed in 1984.
Giaspura defeated sitting Congress MLA Lakhwinder Singh Lakha by a margin of 33,009 votes. In Raikot, AAP’s Hakam Singh Thekedar defeated the Congress’s Kamil Amar Singh, son of Fatehgarh Sahib MP Amar Singh, by more than 27,000 votes.
The Congress, which previously had eight seats in Ludhiana, has registered its worst-ever performance this time.
In 2017, AAP had three seats, the Lok Insaf Party two seats and the SAD one seat in the district.
Gill witnessed biggest turnaround
A daily wage labourer during his childhood Jeevan Singh Sangowal, who is just matric pass as per his qualification, won with the biggest margin in the district. Contesting from Gill constituency, Sangowal defeated former SAD MLA Darshan Singh Shivalik with a margin of 57,644 votes. Sangowal secured a whopping 92,696 votes.
Heavyweights bite the dust
Cabinet ministers Bharat Bhushan Ashu and former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh’s grandson Congress Gurkirat Singh Kotli became the biggest casualties for Congress as both of lost their seats by a significant margin.
While Ashu was defeated by his close aide-turned-foe Gurpreet Singh Gogi. A political greenhorn, Tarunpreet Singh Sond toppled Kotli and SAD candidate Jasdeep Kaur Yadu and wife of controversial SAD leader Yadwinder Singh Yadu.
Sond garnered 62,425 votes, while Kotli and Yadu could merely secure 20,305 and 26,805 votes respectively. Other heavyweights who had to bite the dust include six-time Congress MLA from Ludhiana North, Rakesh Kumar Pandey who finished second runners up. Besides, two-time MLA Surinder Kumar Dawar from Ludhiana Central also faced defeat. Even in these predominantly Hindu belts of Ludhiana, AAP registered an easy win.
Bittu blames infighting as reason for Congress’s debacle
While the MLAs’ who lost the elections remained mum, Member Parliament from Congress Ravneet Singh Bittu’s comments summed up the scenario which led to the debacle of grand old party. He blamed infighting in the Congress for the defeat. “We witnessed an ugly words from Punjab Pradesh congress committee president Navjot Singh Sindhu whose sole agenda was to become chief minister of the state. In the pursuit of power, the party leader could not assess the strong undercurrent of AAP and growing disenchantment of people,” said Bittu.
AAP winning candidate from Payal assembly segment, Manwinder Singh Giaspura said, “People have formed the Aam Aadmi government and we will bring in a change at ground level.”
AAP winning candidate from Ludhiana central, Ashok Prashar Pappi said, “This is the victory of the common man and AAP will work for the betterment at ground level rather than making tall claims. We will work to eradicate the menace of drugs and resolve chronic issues being faced by residents in the constituency including traffic congestion, parking woes etc.”
