AAP win in Ludhiana West reminder of people’s faith in party’s vision, work: State unit chief

Putting all speculations to rest, Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) candidate Sanjeev Arora won the Ludhiana (West) constituency seat by a margin of 10,637 votes. Arora managed to garner 35,179 votes while rival Bharat Bhushan Ashu got 24,542 votes, followed by BJP candidate Jiwan Gupta, who was able to get 20,323 votes. SAD candidate Paropkar Singh Ghuman was at number four with 8,203 votes.

Welcoming this mandate, president of the Punjab state unit of AAP Aman Arora told The Tribune that this mandate had given the party a major boost. He said that the victory was the reminder that the people liked the party, its vision and work. “It is an answer to the opposition parties, which had been speaking “crap” against AAP,” he said. When the counting was on and was in the last rounds, Arora reached the counting centre to be with the AAP candidate.

As soon as the counting began at 8 am, tempers ran high. In the first three rounds, AAP candidate remained ahead of his rivals with 2,895, 2,959 and 2,423 votes, respectively. Congress candidate Ashu got 1,626, 1,746 and 1,722 votes respectively. At the same time BJP’s Gupta was able to fetch 1,177, 1,619 and 2,421 votes while Ghuman got 703, 1,061 and 811 votes.

The next three rounds were crucial for AAP as here the Congress maintained its lead over AAP. In the fourth round, Congress went ahead with 2,327 votes while AAP was able to get 1,988 votes followed by BJP with 1,976 and SAD with just 143 votes. In round five, the Congress was ahead with 2,395, AAP 2,055, BJP 1,638 and SAD just 241 votes. In the sixth round, Congress was again ahead with 2,384 votes, AAP with 2,166 votes, BJP 1,872 and SAD 324 votes. These were majorly the Congress dominated areas, including Model Gram, Bharat Nagar Chowk, College Road, Gobind Nagar, etc.

Seventh round onwards and till 14th AAP remained in lead. In the seventh round, AAP polled 2,872, followed by Congress with 1,886, BJP 1,136 and SAD 422 votes. In round 8, AAP got 2,222, Congress 1,936, BJP 925 AND SAD 642. From round 9 onwards, AAP started with an increase in the lead. AAP polled 2,625 votes, Congress 1,435, BJP 1,118 and SAD 422. In round 10th, AAP performed better with 2,679 votes as compared to Congress with 1,405, BJP 1,199 and SAD 465 votes. In round 11, AAP got 2,988 votes, followed by the Congress with 1,506, SAD with 1,118 and BJP with 730 votes. In round 12, AAP got 2,365, Congress 1,172, BJP 1,624 and SAD 446 votes. In round 13, AAP got 2,772 votes, Congress 1,396, BJP 1,217 and SAD 936 votes. In the last round, AAP got 2,135, Congress 1,574, BJP 1,647 and SAD 464 votes.

The margin between AAP and Congress was lowest after five rounds. AAP was leading with just 2,504 votes. But by the end of last round, the margin reached 10,637 votes, registering a thumping win for AAP candidate Sanjeev Arora.

Top cops on toes

Top cops, including Commissioner of Police Swapan Sharma, DCP Rupinder Singh and other senior cops, remained glued to their seats at the media centre to keep a watch on the proceedings. The cops could be seen looking at the maps to check the areas and voting percentage, etc.

The counting was held at Khalsa College for Women, where huge police force had been deployed. The connecting roads, including those from Ghumar Mandi, College Road, Ferozpur Road, etc., were all barricaded by the police till the counting was on at the venue. Commuters and residents had to take alternate routes to reach their respective destinations.