It’s Congress affair; lull for others

Neha Saini/Charanjit Teja

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 23

Defying Modi wave that swept across the nation, Congress candidates Gurjeet Singh Aujla (Amritsar) and Jasbir Singh Dimpa (Khadoor Sahib) drubbed their opponents with a considerable margin, giving party supporters a chance to erupt into celebrations on Thursday. Aujla was polled 4,45,032 votes, drubbing BJP’s Hardeep Singh Puri who managed to get 3,45,406 votes. The Punjab ruling party finally got hold of the panthic seat of Khadoor Sahib after almost four decades as Jasbir Singh Dimpa, with 4,59,710 votes, thrashed SAD’s Jagir Kaur (3,19,137 votes) and Punjab Democratic Alliance’s Paramjit Kaur Khalra, who managed to make her presence felt with 2,14,489 votes.

In Amritsar, Congress workers began with their celebrations in the afternoon as Aujla’s lead continued to grow throughout the day. The mood was upbeat despite the party’s big loss nationwide as party workers received Aujla, along with Cabinet Minister OP Soni on the Khalsa College premises where the counting in the last phase was being done. Dhol beats were kept loud, garlands showered on Aujla as he looked elated showing a victory sign and gesturing towards his supporters. A large number of Congress workers and supporters gathered outside the Khalsa College gates since afternoon, distributing sweets and raising victory slogans.

It is the second victory for Aujla, who had earlier defeated BJP leader Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina in Amritsar Lok Sabha bypoll by a huge margin of 1,99,189 votes in 2017.

Aujla has been the District Congress Committee (Rural) president since 2013. He was appointed vice-president of the Amritsar District Youth Congress in 1997 and elected to the Amritsar Municipal Corporation in 2007. He was later appointed secretary of the PPCC. His elevation as an MP happened in 2017 when Capt Amarinder Singh vacated the Amritsar seat in protest against the Supreme Court verdict on the SYL Canal water-sharing agreement.

Largely Cong-BJP fight

The results of the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat suggest that the fight was between the Congress and the BJP as others, like AAP, BSP and Left, failed to make their mark. AAP candidate Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal got only 19,800 votes and Punjab Democratic Alliance (PDA) candidate Daswinder Kaur received only 16,278 votes.

AAP has got a major setback as it lost a major vote percentage within two years. In the 2017 bypolls, AAP candidate Upkar Singh Sandhu had got 1,49,984 votes, 14.78% of the total. Soon after sensing a crushing defeat, party workers left the office and the candidate did not respond to phone calls.

PDA candidate Daswinder Kaur looked confused. In 2017 byelections, she got 17,886 votes for the Communist Party of India (CPI). This time, the CPI was in alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Sukhpal Singh Khaira’s Punjab Ekta Party (PEP), but Daswinder managed to get only 16,278 votes, which is 1,608 less than that of the previous elections. “I am confused over the results. Last time, I contested for the CPI and got 17,886, but now 16,278 votes. Where have the BSP and Khaira’s votes gone?” she questioned.

Most of the independent candidates got less than 1,000 votes.