SAD fifth at Sikander Maluka’s home turf

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Bathinda, June 9

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) candidate from the Faridkot parliamentary constituency, Rajwinder Singh, stood at the fifth spot in the Rampura Phul Assembly segment, which is the home turf of former minister Sikander Singh Maluka.

The BJP nominee Hans Raj Hans, who had contested on the BJP ticket, remained at the third position.

In the 2022 Assembly elections, Maluka had polled 45,745 votes in this segment. However, the SAD candidate polled 11,360 votes. In 2022, the BJP could bag only 1,041 votes, this time, Hans Raj got 15,252 votes in this segment.

The SAD remained at the fourth spot in Maluka village. While the Akali Dal candidate polled 329 votes, the BJP stood at the second spot with 798 votes. In 2022, Maluka had bagged 2,655 votes.

In the Lok Sabha poll, Maluka’s daughter-in-law had contested on the BJP’s ticket from the Bathinda parliamentary constituency against SAD’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal.

After Maluka’s daughter-in-law and son joined the BJP, he didn’t quit the Akali Dal, but remained politically inactive.