Punjab election result: Of giant slayers, surprises & losses...

Tribune News Service

Aam Aadmi Party’s dark horse Jeevan Jyot Kaur from Amritsar East constituency emerged as a giant slayer as she defeated bigwigs — Navjot Singh Sidhu of the Congress and Bikram Singh Majithia of the SAD.

Though her victory margin was merely 6,750 votes, a first-time contestant defeating stalwarts of established parties is no mean feat.

Interestingly, in a rally during elections, BJP leader Amit Shah had urged people to vote for its candidate Jagmohan Singh Raju and make him a giant slayer. At that time, who would have thought that the title would be earned by Jeevan Jyot Kaur.

The other big victory belongs to AAP candidate Jasbir Singh Sandhu, a BAMS doctor who defeated Raj Kumar Verka, a three-time Congress MLA, Cabinet minister and former vice-chairman of National SC Commission, with the highest victory margin of 43,863 votes.

In yet another surprise, Ajay Gupta of AAP defeated Om Parkash Soni, a five-time MLA and Deputy Chief Minister. Having started his big innings as city Mayor, Soni had never lost an election until this day. Though Soni managed to get 26,811 votes (30.74 per cent), his opponent outnumbered him with 40,837 (46.83 per cent) votes.

Of all candidates from the mainstream political parties, Dalbir Kaur of Bahujan Samaj Party, which had contested in alliance with SAD, turned out to be the biggest loser, as she merely secured 4,008 votes (4.61 per cent of the total polled votes).

Dalbir Singh of SAD from Amritsar West is another mainstream party candidate, who secured as low as 10,223 votes (8.73 per cent of the total polled votes). Having won his last election in 2002, Dalbir failed to revive his fortunes this time too. Of all SAD candidates from the district, he is the only one who has got less than 20 per cent of the total polled votes.

Cops remain on toes

Amritsar: The police remained on toes for the last two days owing to the counting of votes, while security was also deputed with the winning candidates and around their houses. No untoward incident was reported in the city as the counting passed off peacefully. Police Commissioner Sukhchain Singh Gill had personally visited these centres and supervised the security arrangements on Wednesday. Deputy Commissioner of Police Parminder Singh Bhandal said the police parties continued patrolling the entire day while police teams were also deputed at checkpoints. Special emphasis was given on the security of winning candidates after they came out of the counting centres. Two-tier security system was placed near the counting centres, which were heavily barricaded to ensure that no unscrupulous elements enter and create trouble. “We ensured that they don’t face inconvenience after winning elections while coming out of the counting centres. ACP-rank officials were looking after their security wherever they were going,” he said. He said security was also deputed at the residence of candidates which was witnessing huge rush of supporters as the result was announced. The supporters and party workers reached the residence and offices of the candidates since the start of counting process. Celebration erupted at the residence of winners as soon as the results were announced officially. Though it was very much clear in the afternoon about which candidate was going to win after completion of counting. AAP leaders maintained healthy lead throughout the day. TNS

0.6 per cent NOTA votes polled this time

Amritsar: The None of The Above (NOTA) votes in the constituency saw slight decrease as this Assembly election registered 0.6 per cent votes in its favour. In 2017, the percentage of NOTA vote was 0.8%. The total NOTA votes polled in Amritsar were 7,731, with the maximum number of NOTA votes registered from Attari i.e 1381 with a NOTA percentage of 1.08%. The least number of NOTA votes were registered from Amritsar South i.e 632 (0.6%). The NOTA vote percentage was lesser in this poll as compared to the last two elections. In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, 8,713 number of votes were cast in favour of NOTA, which is 1.02 per cent of the total votes polled. In 2017 Assembly poll, 0.8% of NOTA votes were registered. Given that this time SVEEP teams and voluntary teams had raised awareness regarding NOTA, the less percentage of NOTA votes polled indicate that people were willing to vote for change and reject traditional political parties.

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