Thumping win for SAD-BJP in Ward No. 10 bypoll

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 3

After facing a defeat in the Lok Sabha elections last year, the Congress had to bite the dust once again in the city when SAD-BJP combine nominee Hardeep Singh Buterla defeated Congress candidate Bhupinder Singh Badheri in the byelections to Ward No. 10, comprising Sectors 41 and 42 and Badheri, Attawa and Buterla villages, by a huge margin of 4,950 votes.

The counting of votes was held today in the auditorium of Post Graduate Government College, Sector 11.

Of the total 10,555 polled votes, Buterla got 7,664, which is 72.6 per cent of the total votes polled. Badheri managed to get only 2,714 votes, which is 25.7 per cent of the total votes polled. As many as 177 people exercised the NOTA (none of the above) option in the elections, which were held on March 1.

The impact of the victory can be gauged from the fact that of the total 22 booths in Ward No. 10, the SAD-BJP candidate won in 21 booths. The Congress candidate managed to win in only one booth in Badheri village, which was his home village. In Badheri village too, the Congress lost in two booths.

Of the 22 booths, the Congress candidate failed to touch the three-figure vote mark in 12 booths.

After the victory, Buterla, along with BJP city unit president Sanjay Tandon, SAD local unit president Jagjit Singh Kang, BJP’s Leader of the Opposition Arun Sood, held a padyatra in Ward No. 10. Buterla thanked the people and said he would work hard to complete the unfinished works of his brother, the late Malkiat Singh. During the padyatra, the Congress candidate also congratulated Buterla. The byelections were held after the death of SAD councillor Malkiat Singh Buterla.