Jalandhar Byelection: Only 2.29% votes for SAD (A)

Tribune News Service

Vishav Bharti

Chandigarh, May 14

The Jalandhar bypoll result has once again proved that the last year’s win of Simranjit Singh Mann from Sangrur was not a mandate for radical Sikh politics.

In Jalandhar, SAD (Amritsar) candidate Gurjant Singh Kattu was seen competing with Neetu Shatranwala. Kattu ranked fifth by getting 20,366 votes, only 2.29 per cent of the total polled votes, while Shatranwala ranked sixth with 4,599 votes among 20 candidates.

Kattu could manage only 2.29 per cent votes despite the fact that SAD(A) top leaders campaigned extensively in Jalandhar. Even the Amritpal factor, which Simranjit Singh Mann has been continuously patronising, seems to have not helped the party much.

Less than a year ago, SAD(A) chief Simranjit Singh Mann had won the Sangrur Lok Sabha byelection by defeating Aam Aadmi Party’s candidate Gurmail Singh with less than 6,000 votes. He had secured 35.61 per cent of the total votes in Sangrur last year.

Soon after the results, some experts had started looking at the outcome as emergence of Simranjit Singh Mann’s hardline politics. However, the party has got only 2.29 per cent votes in Jalandhar, which is a massive decline of 33 per cent. The Jalandhar byelection results have once again shown that the Sangrur result was not an endorsement of the Mann’s brand of politics, but the rejection of other political outfits.

Party’s organisational secretary Govind Singh agrees that the results were not as per their expectations, despite the fact that they carried out a campaign at the grassroots level. “Over the past 25 years, our organisational structure had fallen apart in Doaba. During this election, we were able to rebuild teams at the booth level. A large number of youth have entered the party fold and they will become the backbone of our party’s organisational structure,” he said.

He disagreed that getting such a low number of votes meant rejection of Simranjit Singh Mann’s ideology. “Even if you want to take political ideology to the people, you need cadre, which we did not have before this election,” he said.

Candidate Kattu ended up 5th among 20

• SAD (Amritsar) candidate Gurjant Singh Kattu ranked fifth among 20 candidates in contest
• He got 20,366 votes, comprising only 2.29 per cent of the total polled votes
• This, despite the fact that SAD(A) top leaders campaigned extensively for him in the Jalandhar bypoll
• Even the Amritpal factor, which SAD(A) chief Simranjit Singh Mann has been continuously patronising, seems to have not helped the party much

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