AAP’s Doaba fiasco: Gets only 2 of 23 seats in NRI-rich region

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 11

Barring the Bholath and Garhshankar seats, which are the lone saving grace for the Aam Admi Party (AAP) in the Doaba region, the party has been washed out across the other 21 seats in Doaba.

Out of the 23 constituencies in Doaba, the AAP trailed at fourth place in one constituency (Mukerian), where it was behind Independent candidate on the third position. While across 15 constituencies of Doaba, the AAP candidates trailed at the third place after the Congress and/or SAD candidates.

While Jalandhar was projected as a high-stake district for the AAP in Doaba, with the district also witnessing a heavy inflow of NRIs campaigning for the party here, the AAP, across a whopping eight constituencies, finished at third position as counting ended this afternoon. While the AAP failed to win any seat in Jalandhar, only in Nakodar has an AAP candidate (Sarwan Singh Hayer) been able to secure the second spot, with SAD incumbent MLA Ajit Singh Kohar winning the seat. While from Bholath, Sukhpal Khaira won by a margin of 8,202 votes, defeating Akali veteran Bibi Jagir Kaur’s son-in-law Yuvraj Bhupinder Singh, Khaira received as many as 48,873 votes, while Yuvraj Bhupinder Singh received 40,671 votes. Meanwhile, at the Garhshankar constituency in Hoshiarpur, AAP’s Jai Krishan won by a thin margin of 1,650 votes, defeating the SAD’s Surinder Singh Heer. While Jai Krishan received 41,720 votes, Heer received as many as 40,070 votes.In Hoshiarpur, the party has won on one seat (Garhshankar) and has finished on second position and third positions on one and three seats, respectively. Meanwhile, at Nawanshahr, the AAP finished second on one seat and third in two constituencies. While Khaira had ordered a quintal sweets in anticipation of his victory today, the celebrations were, however, dampened due to the party’s major miss in Doaba. Khaira also took out a road show across Bholath today after his win.