After a 36-day long wait,the verdict is finally out. It is a tie between Congress and SAD in Ludhiana district by taking six seats each while two seats have been won by SAD rebels who contested as independents from Ludhiana South and Atam Nagar. While the Congress candidate Bharat Bhushan had the biggest winning margin of 35922 votes. He defeated his nearest rival Rajinder Bhandari of BJP. Bhandari is former BJP state President and this seat was swapped to BJP by SAD despite protests. However the formula did not work well. SADs S.R Kler had a paper thin margin of only 206 votes who defeated Congresss Ishar Singh Meharbaan in the final counting round. In the 2012 Vidhan Sabha elections,BJP had contested from 3 seats for the first time in Ludhiana and strange enough they lost all the three seats. Earlier they used to contest from two seats only. The partys dismal performance was being predicted well in advance and the results have proven the same. Interestingly unlike the 2007 vidhan sabha elections when the winning margins of most of the candidates were comfortable,this year out of the 14 constituencies in Ludhiana,in 6 constituencies the winning margin was less than 5,000 votes. Payal These seats include Payal where SADs heavyweight Charanjit Singh Atwal defeated the 32 years old Lakhvir Singh Lakha- first time contestant of Congress by only 630 votes. Lakha was hand picked candidate of Rahul brigade but he lost with a thin margin. Atwal had been former Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha and this time he tried his luck in assembly elections. Atwal family however said that a win is a win whether by a single vote. Ludhiana North Ludhiana North which used to be traditional Congress belt has made Congresss Rakesh Pandey winner by only 2168 votes from BJPs Parveen Bansal. Pandey had been consecutive 4 times MLA in this constituency but he had lost the 2007 elections by about 5,000 votes to BJPs Harish Bedi. However this time,he managed to win,but the vote share reduced considerably. His previous victories used to have more than 10,000 votes margin. Raikot SADs popular leader Bikramjit Khalsa who was sitting MLA of Khanna lost election in Raikot by 3893 votes. Congresss Gurcharan Singh Boparai was declared as the winner. Last time Khalsa had defeated Congresss heavy weight Shamsher Singh Dullo and was crowned as chief parliamentary secretary but this time his dream to get cabinet berth fell flat. Ludhiana East In Ludhiana East,SADs Ranjit Dhillon won by 4571 votes from Congresss Gurmail Singh Pehalwaan. Dhillon won despite having a SAD rebel Daljit Bhola who contested as an independent. Bhola grabbed more than 22,000 votes. The winning margin would have been huge,had there been no independent in fray,say experts. Pehalwaan was being opposed by Congress from the beginning and hence the results have shown the wrong choice. Gill (Reserved) SADs Darshan Singh Shivalik won election by 5317 votes from Congresss Malkait Singh Dakha. Shivalik had been taking up the issue of unauthorised colonies a lot in this area. While Dakha was leading in the early rounds,Shivalik covered up in the final rounds. Ludhiana Central Ludhiana central results have thrown a spring of surprises. Congresss Surinder Dawar defeated BJP candidate and health Minister Satpal Gosain by 7196 votes. Dawar was being opposed from the beginning of ticket allotment and even 13 congress councillors had given in writing to change this candidate,despite the protest,Dawar contested and he won. Hema Khanna In Khanna former CM Beant Singhs Grandson Gurkirat Kotli won with a margin of only 7278 votes from SADs heavyweight Ranjit Singh Talwandi while PPPs Gurpreet Bhatti finished at number 3 with a good vote share. Sahnewal In Sahnewal leader of opposition Rajinder Kaur Bhattals son-in-law Vikram Bajwa lost with a huge margin of 21216 votes to SADs Sharanjit Dhillon. Bajwa was given ticket despite opposition. Inderjit Kasabad a Congress rebel had also contested as independent candidate from this seat,but Dhillons lead was huge. Samrala Congresss Amrik Dhillon won by 8950 votes from SADs Kirpal Singh Khirnia. Dhillon was expecting a huge margin,but he was seen satisfied even with this victory. Last time Dhillon had lost to Khirnias son Jagjivan Pal Singh Khirnia. Dakha In Dakha- SADs Manpreet Ayali had said that victory is written on the wall and he proved it correct. He defeated Congresss Jassi Khangura by 16388 votes. Khangura was elected as MLA Kila Raipur in the previous term. In the entire poll campaign,both remained busy in filing complaints against each other. Independents Independent candidates Balwinder Singh Bains and his brother Simarjeet Singh Bains won the Ludhiana south and Atam nagar seats respectively with huge margin of 32233 and 28503 votes. Both were SAD rebels. Balwinder beat Mayor Hakam Singh while Simarjeet defeated Jail Minister Hira Singh Gabria.
