SSM candidates deliver flop show, nearly all lose deposit

Charanjit Singh Teja

Amritsar, March 10

Farmer leaders who spearheaded the agitation against agri laws at Delhi borders failed to make any impact in Punjab Assembly elections. Almost all Sanykat Samaj Morcha (SSM) candidates lost their deposits. Only Jandiala candidate Gurnam Singh Daud got 1,308 votes. The candidates of SSM were contesting as Independent as the party didn’t get a symbol for all candidates. Some of the Independent candidates such as Sonu Zafar from the Ajnala constituency got more than 3,000 votes.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janta Party which faced aggressive opposition from the farmers of Punjab performed better than all other small parties. However, the performace was only in urban constituencies as BJP candidates got less than 2 per cent votes from rural constituencies.

In urban constituencies, BJP candidate Sukhminder Singh Pintu from North got 12,918 votes, Kumar Amit Advocate from West got 8,999 votes, Dr Ram Chawla from Centre got 13,525, Jagmohan Singh Raju from East got 7,172 votes.

The vote bank of left parties witnessed further dip this time. Only Amarjit Singh Ansal of the Communist Party of India got 1,368 votes from West constituencies.

While Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) led by Simranjit Singh Mann improved its performance in rural constituencies. SAD (A) candidate Natha Singh from Baba Bakala got 4,076 votes, Bakshish Singh Uppal from Jandiala constituency got 3,361 votes, Kulwant Singh Kotla from Majitha got 3,553 votes and Amrik Singh from Ajnala got 2,185 votes.