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‘Raja’ crowned, Bittu bites dust in Ludhiana
Congress retains Ludhiana Lok Sabha seat for a fourth time as Punjab Congress chief Raja Warring wins by 20,942 votes. BJP candidate Bittu comes second.
The Congress continued their winning spree in their bastion of Ludhiana Lok Sabha seat, securing a fourth consecutive win in the results declared on Tuesday. Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring polled 3,22,224 votes against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Ravneet Singh Bittu’s second-best tally of 3,01,282, securing a win by 20,942 votes.
The rural belts of the segment were the areas that decisively tilted the closely-contested battle in favour of Raja Warring. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate and sitting Ludhiana central MLA Ashok Parashar Pappi polled 2,37077 votes.
Notably, Shiromani Akali Dal candidate Ranjit Singh Dhillon lost his deposit, with a mere 90,220 votes.
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The Ludhiana Lok Sabha seat has been firmly in the grip of the Congress, with the grand old party winning 12 out of the 19 elections since 1952.
While Warring gained ground in the rural and semi-urban assembly constituents, including Jagraon, Gill and Dakha, BJP’s Bittu had an edge in the five urban constituencies, Ludhiana North, Ludhiana East, Ludhiana West, Ludhiana South and Ludhiana Central.
The SAD failed in any of the constituencies including rural and urban. However, the SAD has an account of significant success from Ludhiana, sending six to the Parliament in the past.
Pappi’s performance was poor, even in his assembly segment of Ludhiana Central. The AAP has eight MLAs in nine seats under Ludhiana Lok Sabha constituency. Pappi managed to give a contest to the Congress on three rural constituencies, Jagraon, Gill and Dakha.
Bittu, who won the Ludhiana seat on a Congress mandate in two previous elections, 2014 and 2019, had switched to the BJP ahead of the elections in March this year. Congress’ Manish Tewari was the winner in 2009 from Ludhiana. In these elections, Tewari contested from the Chandigarh seat and emerged victorious by a slender margin of 2,504 votes.
Bittu is the grandson of former Congress chief minister Beant Singh.
Raja Warring’s stature as the state Congress chief was among the main factors leading to his victory. Congress leaders, including the leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa and six-time MLA and former cabinet minister Brahm Mahindra had camped in Ludhiana ahead of the polling. Warring, a vocal and firebrand leader, is known to be an aggressive leader.
Bittu faced a rout in rural areas as various farmer unions had staged a series of protests against the BJP and stopped him from campaigning. Bittu made allegedly made statements against the protesters during his campaign in the rural areas, which had irked farmer unions. Congress leaders targeted Bittu for not answering the calls and remaining out of touch with the locals after winning the elections.
Union home minister Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath were in Ludhiana before the elections to address rallies seeking voters for Bittu. Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal also held meetings with the industrialists of the city.
Bittu and other parties had tagged Raja Warring as an “outsider” and it followed him in urban areas. Warring procured fewer votes from urban constituencies, where the Congress otherwise had a stronghold.
After winning, Raja Warring said that the BJP and the AAP had fallen to a new low. He alleged that he was threatened through the income tax department, which conducted a raid at a hotel of a Congress leader just before polling.
Pappi’s son Vikas Parashar had also made statements about his visit to veteran Congress leader Sushil Parashar, who is a cousin of Ashok Parashar Pappi. Vikas had claimed that Warring was there to “surrender” before the AAP. However, Warring claimed that he was there to help Sushil who was not being allowed to step out to vote, a statement that was seconded by the latter.
