Three rural Assembly segments made Bittu bite dust in Ludhiana

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, June 4

A clear urban-rural divide came to the fore in one of the most bitterly fought and high-stake General Election to the 18th Lok Sabha in Ludhiana on Tuesday.

Historic win

• The Congress has scripted history with the fourth consecutive victory from Ludhiana this election. No other party had represented Ludhiana in Lok Sabha four times consecutively since 1952. Manish Tewari had reclaimed this Congress bastion from Shiromani Akali Dal’s Sharanjit Singh Dhillon in 2009 followed by two consecutive wins by Bittu on the Congress ticket in 2014 and 2019.
• Of the total 18 elections held here in the past 72 years, the Congress had won 11 times, the SAD five and the SAD (Mann) and the Swatantar Party once each.

Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, reckoned by many as a rank outsider, has scripted history as his party won this predominantly urban general seat for a record fourth time in a row, which no other party had been able to do since 1952.

What candidates say

Amrinder Singh Raja Warring (Cong) – Winner: “I thank the people of Punjab for an emphatic win given to the Congress with seven of the 13 seats. People have reposed their unfailing trust in the Congress. I assure that the party will acknowledge this support with service and commitment. I will always be grateful to Ludhiana voters for reposing their faith in me. Not just for another five years, I will remember this love and trust you have given to me, for the entire life.”

Ravneet Singh Bittu (BJP) – Runner-up: “I am thankful to voters of Ludhiana, who showed confidence in me and voted for me. We have led in five Assembly constituencies of the city but trailed in rural segments. I am thankful to the BJP leadership and party workers, who left no stone unturned, working day and night in the harsh weather, for me. I also want to congratulate the BJP for forming the next government at the Centre and Narendra Modi for returning as the Prime Minister for a record third term.. I will introspect about reasons for the loss and discuss them with my party leadership.”

Ashok Parashar Pappi (AAP) – Third: “We had worked hard but we accept the verdict with all humility. We would analyse the results and go to the electorate again to make amends in our performance to make up for this loss in future.”

The three-time sitting MLA from Gidderbaha and former transport minister had come all the way from Bathinda to take on his friend-turned-foe turncoat three-time sitting MP Ravneet Singh Bittu of the BJP, whom he defeated with a convincing margin of over 20,942 votes.

Cong vote share stands at 30.42%

The winning Congress secured 30.42 per cent vote share while the runner-up BJP got 28.45 per cent share of the total polled votes followed by 22.38 per cent vote share by the ruling AAP. While the SAD’s vote share remained 8.52 per cent, the SAD (Mann) and the BSP polled 1.72 per cent and 0.98 per cent votes, respectively, which were even collectively less than 4.01 per cent vote share logged by an Independent, Kamaljit Singh Brar.

While the former Indian Youth Congress president polled 3,22,224 votes, Bittu got 3,01,282 votes. The ruling AAP’s sitting local MLA Ashok Parashar Pappi finished third with 2,37,077 votes.

Rest all 40 candidates in the poll fray, including the SAD’s former MLA Ranjit Singh Dhillon, lost their security deposits by failing to poll even one-sixth of the total polled votes. Dhillon got 90,220 votes while the SAD (Mann) and BSP nominees Amritpal Singh Chhandran and Davinder Singh Ramgarhia polled 18,241 and 10,394 votes, respectively, which were even together less than 42,300 votes polled by an Independent, Kamaljit Singh Brar.

The analysis of the Assembly segment-wise election results released by Returning Officer Sakshi Sawhney, a copy of which is with The Tribune, made evident that it was a clear urban-rural split that made the Congress winner and cost the BJP dear.

While the winner, Warring (46), led from only four of the total nine Assembly segments in this parliamentary seat while Bittu (48), secured maximum votes from five Vidhan Sabha seats. However, the AAP trailed in all nine segments, eight of which it had won in the 2022 Assembly poll. Its candidate Parashar (59), even lost from his Ludhiana Central seat, from where he was elected two years ago.

While Gill, Dakha and Jagraon (all rural pockets) and the urban Atam Nagar Assembly segment added to the victory of Warring, the urban seats of Ludhiana East, South, Central, West and North gave lead to the BJP.

From the very first round, Warring secured the lead over his nearest rival Bittu and the margin kept swinging from as low as 2,000 votes to as high as 27,000 votes.

Of his total 3,22,224 polled votes, including 800 postal ballots, Warring got maximum 54,981 votes from Gill, followed by 41,296 from Ludhiana East, 40,276 from Dakha, 34,734 from Jagraon, 32,982 from Ludhiana South, 31,415 from Ludhiana North, 30,889 from Ludhiana West, 30,696 from Atam Nagar and lowest 24,155 from the Ludhiana Central Assembly segment.

Bittu’s 3,01,282 votes came from the highest 53,725 in Ludhiana North, followed by 50,833 from Ludhiana East, 45,424 from Ludhiana West, 41,450 in Ludhiana Central, 37,278 in Ludhiana South, 30,154 in Gill, 22,753 in Atam Nagar, 12,138 in Jagraon and the lowest of 7,072 votes in Dakha, besides getting 355 postal ballots.

For AAP’s Parashar, the total of 2,37,077 polled votes comprised maximum 41,520 from Gill, followed by 28,743 in Dakha, 28,096 in Ludhiana East, 25,745 in Jagraon, 25,600 in Atam Nagar, 25,127 in Ludhiana North, 22,461 in Ludhiana West, second lowest 20,039 votes from his own Ludhiana Central and the minimum of 19,289 votes in Ludhiana South, besides 457 postal ballots.

Of the total polled 10,59,678 votes, including 2,459 postal ballots, as many as 5,040 voters opted for NOTA while 521 votes were rejected and two were tendered for various reasons.