Parted ways, Awaaz-e-Punjab foursome registers huge win

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 12

Together as members of the Awaaz-e-Punjab (AeP) front, this foursome could perhaps not have made a mark. But having split and contesting from two separate parties, they have all surely won their seats with heavy margins.

As Congress candidate from Amritsar East, cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu garnered 60,477 votes winning with a margin of 42,809 votes. Hockey Olympian Pargat Singh, who re-contested from Jalandhar Cantonment, won by 29,124 votes. He was polled a total of 59,349 votes.

Likewise, the Bains brothers, whose Lok Insaaf Party has an alliance with AAP, too, have won convincingly. While Balwinder Singh Bains (Ludhiana South) won by 30,917 votes, Simarjeet Bains got elected from Atam Nagar after winning the seat by 16,913 votes.

Pargat Singh said: “The victory proves that we were all strong candidates. As members of the AeP, we were thinking of expanding our team and giving it a shape of a party. Then we started getting feedback that our step could bring gains to the ruling alliance which we did not want in any case. We finally dissolved the front and now are happy as the end result has been good for us as well as the people of Punjab.”

Asked if he had congratulated the Bains brothers, he said: “Yes, I sent them a message last evening.”

He said: “I just regret that my joining the Congress affected the prospects of Jagbir Brar, who had to be moved to Nakodar. With just 10 days left to work in a new area, his dad passing away in between and a rebel working against him, the situation was indeed very tough for him.”

Over the discussions of him being considered for the sports portfolio in the new Cabinet, he said: “It’s not my habit to ask for anything. It is for the party leadership to decide.”