Cong tally up, but margins in Assembly seats fall

Rajmeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 26

Despite having improved its tally in the Lok Sabha polls, the state Congress has realised that the performance of at least 49 legislators has remained below par as compared to the 2017 Assembly elections.

With the exception of a few MLAs, including ministers Brahm Mohindra and Charanjit Singh Channi, who have managed better results in their respective segments, others have faired poorly.

Senior leaders say though the party has emerged stronger with its vote share rising to 40.15 per cent from 38.5 per cent in 2017, there is a need to introspect reasons behind poor performance in many segments, be it anti-incumbency or disconnect with the electorate.

A minister blamed the implementation of populist schemes through bureaucratic set-up as one of the reasons. The downward trend is more reflective in the urban areas, indicating inadequate work by Local Bodies Department, as mentioned by Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh even as Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu is learnt to have prepared his dossier to counter the aspersion.

From the Jalandhar Lok Sabha constituency, which has been won by Chaudhary Santokh Singh, the winning margin of MLA Sushil Rinku (Jalandhar West Assembly segment) has come down to 1,489 from 17,334 in 2017, and that of Rajinder Beri (Jalandhar North) to 5,342 from 23,078.

Similarly in the Amritsar parliamentary segment, won by Gurjeet Singh Aujla, the winning margin of MLA Sunil Datti (Amritsar North) came down to 1,368 from 6,497; OP Soni (Amritsar Central) 5,429 from 21,116 and Inderbir Singh Bolaria (Amritsar South) 10,395 from 22,658.

In Patiala, won by Preneet Kaur, the winning margin of Hardyal Kamboj (Rajpura) is down to 7,306 from 32,565 and Madan Lal Jalalpur (Ghanaur) 19,550 from 36,557.

In Sangrur, from where Kewal Dhillon lost to AAP’s Bhagwant Mann, Water Supply and Sanitation Minister Razia Sultana, who represents Malerkotla, registered a winning marginof 7,721 votes as compared to 12,702 in 2017.

Best ones

Patiala (Rural) MLA Brahm Mohindra secured a winning margin of 30,560 votes against 18,995 in 2017; Chamkaur Sahib MLA Charanjit Channi: 21,149 against 12,308; and Ludhiana (East) MLA Sanjeev Talwar: 23,435 against 1,581.

Manpreet, Singla among poor performers

Speaker Rana KP Singh (Anandpur Sahib) could secure 10,488 less votes than Manish Tewari’s rival candidate. In 2017, Rana had won from this segment by 23,881 votes.

Deputy Speaker Ajiab Singh Bhatti, who represents Malout, managed 16,668 less votes for Sher Singh Ghubaya.

In Bathinda, Manpreet Badal, who represents Bathinda (Urban), got 3,743 less votes for Amrinder Singh Raja Warring.

In Sangrur, Vijay Inder Singla, attributed 18,843 less votes polled from his constituency to five of the nine MLAs being from AAP.

In Gurdaspur, where PPCC chief Sunil Jakhar lost to BJP’s Sunny Deol, Transport Minister and Dinanagar MLA Aruna Chaudhary could get 20,522 less votes as compared to her winning margin of 31,917.