Chandigarh, May 16
Upholding the pattern, Punjab voter decided to change a majority of its Lok Sabha (LS) members to facilitate the continuation of Dr Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister by giving the Congress a clear 8:5 verdict from the 13 LS seats in the state.
However, the Election Commission ratified results of only 12 — 7:5 in favour of the Congress — of 13 seats and withheld the results of Hoshiarpur. No official explanation was given for not announcing the results.
Intriguingly, the Punjab voter did not discriminate in replacing 50 per cent of all sitting MPs. They re-elected Preneet Kaur, but rejected Rana Gurjit Singh from the Congress, reposed their faith in Navjot Sidhu, but decided to replace Vinod Khanna (BJP).
Among the Akalis, they rejected Charanjit Singh Atwal and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, while two of the outgoing SAD members, Sharanjit Singh Dhillon and Zora Singh Mann, did not contest. Similarly, they have returned only Paramjit Kaur Gulshan and Rattan Singh Ajnala on the Akali ticket and two new faces, Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Sher Singh Ghubaiya. Neither the Bahujan Samaj Party nor the Communists could cut much ice with voters here.
It was not only one of the toughest and fiercest electoral battles that had the entire national political leadership of the ruling Congress-led UPA and the BJP-led NDA campaigning in Punjab, but also saw a pitched battle between two of the most powerful families, the Badals and the Patiala royals. Voters pleased both families by supporting Preneet and Harsimrat, besides reposing its faith in the young.
Its confidence in newcomers like Ravneet Singh Bittu, Vijay Inder Singla and even Harsimrat was perhaps indicative of a new a pattern that sends a strong message to veteran war horses like Gurcharan Singh Galib, Dhindsa, Simranjit Singh Mann, Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, Charanjit Singh Athwal, Prem Singh Chandumajra and Jagmeet Singh Brar to make room for the younger leadership.
Besides re-electing Preneet (Patiala), Paramjit (Faridkot), Ajnala (Khadoor Sahib), Sidhu (Amritsar) and Sukhdev Singh Libra (Fatehgarh Sahib), Punjab is sending seven new faces to LS, Tewari (Ludhiana), Ravneet (Anandpur Sahib), Singla (Sangrur), Harsimrat (Bathinda), Ghubaiya (Ferozepur), Partap Singh Bajwa (Gurdaspur) and Mohinder Singh KayPee (Jalandhar). Also returning to the LS after one-term gap will be Santosh Chaudhary (Hoshiarpur).
Among those rejected by Punjab voters are Bollywood star Vinod (Gurdaspur), Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha Charanjit (Fatehgarh Sahib), Dhindsa (Sangrur) and Rana Gurjit (Khadoor Sahib).
The election also leaves the two Punjab Assembly seats, Jalalabad (Ghubaiya) and Kahnuwan (Bajwa) vacant, thus necessitating by-election there.
Besides, the Banur Assembly seat is already vacant following the death of Punjab Cooperation Minister Kanwaljit Singh in a road accident in March. Another vacant Punjab Assembly seat, Nurmahal, is in the middle of a by-election.
