Chandigarh (IANS): In the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections in Punjab, AAP’s senior leadership never focused on the state in a way as if it had big stakes here. The party was proved wrong as Punjab gave AAP all the four seats that India’s newest political party won in the 2014 Lok Sabha election.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) success was not the only thing that Punjab threw up unexpectedly.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley, facing his first popular election, lost from the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat to former chief minister and Congress candidate Amarinder Singh by over one lakh votes.
This was the most embarrassing moment for the ruling Akali Dal-BJP alliance, which has been in power in the state since 2007.
Though the alliance won six seats (four Akali Dal and two BJP) out of 13, the loss for Jaitley was a big setback. Jaitley was touted to be the next finance minister in Narendra Modi’s incoming government.
The remaining three seats, Amritsar, Ludhiana and Jalandhar, went to the Congress kitty.
That the AAP had caught the fancy of voters in Punjab’s towns and even in the rural hinterland was reflected after the voting in Punjab 13 Lok Sabha seats on April 30.
Even AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal admitted that the Punjab results were “unexpected”. The party, which assumed a national role, competing with the likes of the better-established Congress and BJP, could not win any seat anywhere except for the four – Sangrur, Patiala, Faridkot and Fatehgarh Sahib – it got in Punjab.
The AAP candidates have interesting profiles.
The Sangrur seat winner, Bhagwant Mann, is an actor-comedian. He was part of the People’s Party of Punjab (PPP), a new outfit floated in 2011, till just before the elections. He quit the PPP and joined the AAP recently.
Mann won by a formidable margin of nearly 2.12 lakh votes against his Akali Dal and Congress rivals.
AAP’s Patiala winner Dharam Vira Gandhi is a cardiologist by profession who is actively involved in social service.
Fatehgarh Sahib AAP candidate Harinder Singh Khalsa was in the foreign service in Norway and quit after the 1984 Operation Blustar attack on the Golden Temple complex. He became a human rights activist later.
Another winning candidate, Sadhu Singh, has been an educationist and principal earlier.
AAP candidate on the Ludhiana seat, lawyer-activist H.S. Phoolka, lost by nearly 20,000 votes to Congress candidate Ravneet Bittu.
While the results are a time for introspection for the ruling Akali Dal-BJP alliance, AAP needs to take Punjab more seriously from now on. For the Congress, the high point was Amarinder’s victory over Jaitley.
RESULTS:
AAM AADMI PARTY: FOUR SEATS
FARIDKOT
Prof. Sadhu Singh (Aam Aadmi Party) defeated Paramjit Kaur Gulshan (Shiromani Akali Dal) by 17,2516.
FATEHGARH SAHIB
8harinder Singh Khalsa (Aam Aadmi Party) defeated Sadhu Singh (Congress) by 54,144 votes.
PATIALA
Dr. Dharam Vira Gandhi (Aam Aadmi Party) defeated Preneet Kaur (Congress) by 20,942 votes.
SANGRUR
Bhagwant Mann (Aam Aadmi Party) defeated Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa (Shiromani Akali Dal by 211,721 votes.
SHIROMANI AKALI DAL: FOUR SEATS
ANANDPUR SAHIB
Prem Singh Chandumajra (Shiromani Akali Dal) defeated Ambika Soni (Congress) by 23,697 votes.
FIROZPUR
Sher Singh Ghubaya (Shiromani Akali Dal) defeated Sunil Jakhar (Congress) by 31,420 votes.
BATHINDA
Harsimrat Kaur Badal (Shiromani Akali Dal) defeated Manpreet Singh Badal (Congress) by 19,395 votes.
KHADOOR SAHIB
Ranjit Singh Brahmpura (Shiromani Akali Dal) defeated Harminder Singh Gill (Congress) by 100569 votes.
CONGRESS: THREE SEATS
AMRITSAR
Captain Amarinder Singh (Congress) defeated Arun Jaitley (BJP) by 102,770 votes.
JALANDHAR
Santokh Singh Chaudhary (Congress) defeated Pawan Kumar Tinu (Shiromani Akali Dal): leading by 70,981 votes.
LUDHIANA
Ravneet Singh Bittu (Congress) defeated Harvinder Singh Phoolka (Aam Aadmi Party) 19709 votes.
BJP: TWO SEATS
GURDASPUR
Vinod Khanna (BJP) defeated Partap Singh Bajwa (Congress) by 136,065 votes.
HOSHIARPUR
Vijay Sampla (BJP) defeated Mohinder Singh Kaypee (Congress) by 13,582 votes.
CHANDIGARH RESULT
Kher Kirron Anupam (BJP) defeated Pawan Kumar Bansal (Congress) by 69,642 votes.
