People queue up at a polling booth to cast their vote for the Sangrur Lok Sabha by-election.
Highlight
- SAD (Amritsar) president Simranjit Singh Mann defeated AAP candidate Gurmail Singh
- AAP’s defeat in Sangrur surprised many of its senior leaders in Delhi
- AAP’s Punjab unit concedes defeat, promises to work harder for the progress and prosperity of the state
AAP’s crushing defeat in Punjab’s Sangrur Lok Sabha seat sparked celebrations for its victory in the Rajinder Nagar assembly bypoll in Delhi after the results were declared on Sunday.
Akali (Amritsar) president and pro-Khalistan supporter Simranjit Singh Mann defeated AAP candidate Gurmel Singh by a margin of 5,822 votes in the Sangrur Lok Sabha constituency, in a blow to the Arvind Kejriwal-led party, which was in power in Punjab for barely three months. I. Earlier
AAP’s defeat in Sangrur stunned many of its senior leaders in Delhi as the seat is considered a party stronghold.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann won it twice, and in the state elections earlier this year, the party won all nine assembly seats that fall under the Lok Sabha constituency.
After the bypoll results, AAP’s Punjab unit conceded defeat and promised to work hard for the progress and prosperity of the state.
In Delhi, the state unit of the party celebrated its victory in the Rajinder Nagar bypoll in the presence of its state convener Gopal Rai and other senior party leaders.
Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Kejriwal took to Twitter to hail the victory in Rajinder Nagar, calling it the defeat of the BJP’s “dirty politics” and the work done by his government in Delhi.
AAP candidate Durgesh Pathak won the Rajinder Nagar assembly seat comfortably by defeating his nearest rival BJP’s Rajesh Bhatia by a margin of over 11,000 votes.
Speaking to PTI, AAP national spokesperson Sanjay Singh attributed the party’s defeat in the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat to the “feeling” of the people in favor of the Akali (Amritsar) candidate.
He said the bypoll results should not be seen as the verdict of the people on the functioning of the government of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
Singh said, “Sometimes people cast their votes driven by sentiments. That’s what happened there. People voted for Simran Singh Mann driven by sentiments.” Asked to elaborate, AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP said.
“Perhaps because of his (Simran Singh’s advanced) age and also because he was facing defeat in elections for the last many years that people voted for him emotionally.”
Singh said that if the performance of the Bhagwant Mann government was so bad, the traditional parties- Congress, Akali Dal and BJP should have got votes.
“But the votes went in favor of one person (Simran Singh). And the Congress, Akali Dal and BJP candidates also lost their deposits,” he said. last three months.
AAP’s newly-elected Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab Raghav Chadha attributed the party’s defeat in the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat to low voter turnout due to paddy harvesting season and scorching heat this time.
However, he said the bypoll results give a “clear” indication that AAP votes are almost intact and Simranjit Singh Mann won the seat as votes of other parties went to him.
“The vote share of AAP has come down from 37 per cent to 35 per cent, that of Congress has come down from 27 per cent to 11 per cent and that of Akali Dal has come down to 6 per cent from the previous 24 per cent,” he said.
He claimed that the figures clearly show that the Aam Aadmi Party gave a tough fight to its rivals.
“Punjab wiped out other parties,” he said. “We accepted the decision of the people with all humility. We will work hard,” he said.
Renowned political analyst Sanjay Kumar said the Sangrur bypoll results should be seen as a victory of ‘one person’ rather than a defeat for the ruling AAP.
He said, “Look at the candidate who has been elected. He has been a prominent figure in the state and does not belong to any established political party.
So it is a victory for the candidate rather than the party.”
He, however, said the Sangrur bypoll results have sent a “strong message” to AAP in Punjab that people are not “overwhelming” in its favour, even as the party came to power after registering a landslide victory in the three-month-long state assembly polls. . Earlier
“He has to be very cautious and take this defeat as a rejection of the party in power,” said Kumar, co-director of Delhi-based think tank Loknity-CSDS.
He said AAP won the Rajinder Nagar assembly seat in Delhi as it is a “tested” political party in the national capital and its government has “performed well for almost 10 years”.
“The party’s test is yet to be held in Punjab.
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