Lok Sabha Bypoll: Simranjit Singh Mann defeated his own rival Gurmail Singh from the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat by a margin of over 7,000 votes, after a close fight between the two candidates.
The Aam Aadmi Party suffered a massive defeat in the Punjab bypolls on Sunday, with Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) candidate Simranjit Singh Mann defeating the ruling party’s candidate from Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s previous Lok Sabha seat.
Simranjit Singh Mann defeated his own rival Gurmail Singh from the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat by a margin of over 7,000 votes, after a close fight between the two candidates.
Simranjit Singh Mann, 77, is a former MP and president of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) – not belonging to the larger Shiromani Akali Dal.
Congress candidate Dalveer Singh Goldy, BJP’s Kewal Dhillon and Akali Dal’s Kamaldeep Kaur Rajoana finished third, fourth and fifth respectively.
Counting of votes began at 8 am on Sunday amid tight security. Sixteen candidates appeared for the election on 23 June.
By-elections to the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat saw a low turnout of 45.30 percent as compared to 72.44 percent in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and 76.71 percent in the 2014 elections. This time there were 15.69 lakh eligible voters.
The bypoll was necessitated due to the resignation of Bhagwant Mann from the Lok Sabha seat after being elected as an MLA in the state assembly elections earlier this year.
Bhagwant Mann, who is now the chief minister of the state, had won the Sangrur seat in the 2014 and 2019 parliamentary elections.
The bypoll was the first major electoral battle after the Aam Aadmi Party’s landslide victory in the state assembly elections in March this year.
For the ruling AAP, the bypoll was seen as a battle for prestige to retain its stronghold, while for opposition parties the Congress, the BJP and the SAD were looking to register a victory after defeat in the assembly polls.
The AAP has fielded 38-year-old Singh, who is the party’s in-charge of Sangrur district, while the Congress has placed its bet on Goldy, a former MLA from Dhuri.
The BJP has fielded former Barnala MLA Dhillon who had joined the party earlier this month.
The Sangrur parliamentary constituency is considered a stronghold of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which won all nine assembly constituencies – Lehra, Dirba, Barnala, Sunam, Bhadaur, Mahal Kalan, Malerkotla, Dhuri and Sangrur in the 2022 assembly elections.
Bhagwant Mann won the Sangrur seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections by defeating Shiromani Akali Dal candidate Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa by a margin of 2.11 lakh votes.
