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Punjab polls: Despite worst show, BJP makes presence felt in some segments
Few Sikh faces of the party, mostly poached from other parties, have left a mark in the rural hinterland where till a few days before the polls, it was difficult for the leaders of the saffron party to move freely due to unprecedented backlash over farmers’ agitation
Chandigarh: Even as the BJP plunged to an all-time low by securing a mere two seats in the Punjab assembly polls, the party has managed to make inroads in a few constituencies, including in the rural hinterland, beyond the 23 seats it used to traditionally contest in the state, with its candidates getting a good vote share amidst the AAP tsunami.
Few Sikh faces of the party, mostly poached from other parties, have left a mark in the rural hinterland where till a few days before the polls, it was difficult for the leaders of the saffron party to move freely due to unprecedented backlash over farmers’ agitation.
State BJP chief Ashwani Sharma said the biggest achievement of the party is to make a strong presence felt across the state. “You just go back to a few days before the polls when the BJP workers were attacked in the rural areas in the name of farmer agitation. We got less than one month to prepare for the polls. Taking the party flat to all constituencies of the state is our biggest gain,” said Sharma.
The Sikh candidates of the party who got good vote share amid the AAP tsunami include Didar Singh Bhatti, who secured 14,128 votes from Sirhind constituency, more than the SAD candidate Jagdeep Singh Cheema.
The biggest gain for the BJP on its non-traditional seats have come from Balluana reserve segment where the party candidate Vandana Sangwal was placed second with 39,473 votes.
Kanwarveer Singh Tohra, grandson of late Akali stalwart Gurcharan Singh Tohra, clocked 9,449 votes from Amloh. Party’s candidate from Khanna Gurpreet Singh Bhatti, an ex-AAP leader, got 12,575 votes.
In Talwandi Sabo, considered a Panthic seat dominated by farmers, BJP candidate and former youth Akali Dal leader Ravi Inder Sidhu got 4,343 votes.
Controversial former SAD MLA Sarabjit Singh Makkar also managed to get 15,758 votes from Jalandhar Cantt, a seat which was contested for the first time by BJP.
On a few seats dominated by Hindu vote bank, which the party was contesting for the first time, its candidate from Dera Bassi, Sanjeev Khanna got 26,503 votes.
Similarly in Garshankar in Hoshiarpur district, dominated by the rural segment as well, Nimisha Mehta got 24,536 votes. In SAS Nagar, BJP candidate Sanjiv Vashisht got 16,984 votes, almost double than the official candidate of the SAD-BSP.
In Kharar, PLC candidate, contesting on BJP symbol, Kamaldeep Saini got 15,210 votes, whereas in Gill reserve segment of Ludhiana district, retired IAS S R Ladhar got 12,751 votes.
BJP candidates who fared below expectations include former Congress minister Rana Gurmit Sodhi, who stood third from Ferozepur City and ex-Congress MLA Fateh Jung Bajwa, who could get only 13,809 votes.
