Barring Dera Bassi, Cong leads in every segment

Aman Sood
Tribune News Service
Patiala, May 24

The 2019 General Election result of the Patiala constituency surprised non-Congress candidates as majority of them failed to win at their own booths and even in the Assembly segments. 

Barring Dera Bassi where the SAD-BJP gained 17,050 votes, it trailed in all other segments, including Sanaur  from where they had a sitting MLA.

The SAD-BJP candidate Surjit Singh Rakhra lost in his home town Samana. Rakhra, who has been a MLA twice, had been contesting from the past 15 years. 

In Sanaur, SAD MLA Harinder Pal Singh Chandumajra was seen missing from the ground and and was busy campaigning for his father in Anandpur Sahib constituency.  As a result, the Congress poached local leaders which led to massive defeat of the opponents. 

“A few leaders just sat idle and passed the instructions without working themselves. The leadership needs to take action and set an example,” said a top SAD leader.

Interestingly, the SAD-BJP performed poorly in the wards led by the leaders who held plum posts in the district. Despite the Modi wave, the BJP leaders too performed badly. 

The BJP leaders, including Bhupesh Aggarwal, Anil Bajaj, Harinder Kohli, Gurjit Singh Kohli, son of a former Akali minister Surjit Singh Kohli would be under scanner.

The SAD lost at wards of its district president Harpal Juneja, former mayors Vishnu Sharma and Ajit Pal Kohli. Amrinder Singh could not manage win despite being made the poll manager by the Akalis. 

The SAD lost badly in the Patiala (Rural) held by the SAD halqa incharge Satbir Singh Khatra where Congress leader Preneet Kaur got a lead of 30,560 votes.

Considered to be the pocket borough of the Congress, Preneet Kaur won the seat by a big margin of over 1,62,718 votes defeating her nearest rival Rakhra. 

The results also came as a big blow to MP Dr Dharamavira Gandhi, who polled 1,61,645 votes less than the winning margin of Preneet.

Preneet got 5,32,027 votes in the nine assembly segments while Rakhra managed 3,69,309 votes followed by Dr Gandhi who managed only 1,61,645 votes.

Assembly wise data

Preneet trailed by a margin of 17,050 votes in the Dera Bassi segment. She polled 70,883 votes against 87,933 of the SAD candidate.

In Ghanaur, Preneet got 55,395 votes against 35,845 polled by Rakhra. In Shutrana, the Congress candidate managed 53,185 votes as compared to 31,843 of the SAD. In Nabha, where the cadre infighting was visible, Preneet managed a lead of 17,247 votes. Rajpura gave a lead of 7,306 votes to Preneet.

In  Patiala (Urban), she  got 56,074 votes and got an overall lead of 35,489 votes. Interestingly, Dr Dharamvira Gandhi and SAD (Urban) president Harpal Juneja were residents of this segment.

In Patiala (Rural), Preneet got a lead of 30,560 votes polling 61,412 votes as compared to 30,852 votes. In Sanaur, the Congress got a lead of 41,976 votes with Preneet getting 78,128 votes against 36,152 of Rakhra.