8 Punjabis win British Columbia elections

Sukhmeet Bhasin

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Tribune News Service

Bathinda, October 25

Eight candidates of Punjabi origin have emerged winners in the British Columbia provincial elections in Canada. All eight belong to the ruling New Democratic Party, which secured an absolute majority with 55 seats in the 87-member House.

Three of them — Labour Minister Harry Bains, Deputy Speaker Raj Chouhan and Parliamentary Secretary Jagrup Brar — have been elected MLAs for the fifth time.

Bains won from Surrey-Newton. He defeated Paul Boporai of the Liberal Party.

Chouhan won from Burnaby-Edmonds. He defeated Liberal Party’s Tript Atwal, the daughter of former Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker and SAD leader Charanjit Singh Atwal. Brar retained his Surrey-Fleetwood seat. He belongs to Deon village in Bathinda.

Rachna Singh, daughter of Punjabi writer Dr Raghbir Singh and an alumna of Panjab University, has been re-elected from Surrey-Green Timbers. She defeated Dilraj Atwal of the Liberal Party.

Ravi Kahlon retained his Delta North seat. Aman Singh defeated Jas Johal from Richmond-Queensborough. Jinny Sims and Niki Sharma won from Surrey-Panorama and Vancouver-Hastings, respectively.