A shocker for big guns: In Ludhiana, Ashu, Kotli, Bains, Rajewal — all lose to AAP

Among the big guns who tasted defeat from Ludhiana, include two cabinet ministers — Bharat Bhushan Ashu and Gurkirat Kotli of Congress, two-time MLA and Lok Insaf Party chief Simarjeet Singh Bains and his brother Balwinder Singh Bains, six-time Congress MLA Rakesh Pandey and Sanyukt Samaj Morcha (SSM) CM face Balbir Singh Rajewal.

However, party hoppers had a field day as at least eight winners had switched to AAP from other parties, mostly Congress. Some had even contested earlier unsuccessfully from other parties or as independents but have won for the first time as the AAP wave swept Malwa region. In a few seats, AAP volunteers who were associated with the party since the beginning have also won.

In 2017, Congress had won eight seats, AAP three, Lok Insaf Party (LIP) two and SAD one from Ludhiana. This time the Congress has been reduced to zero in Ludhiana, which was once considered the party’s stronghold especially in urban seats.

Except for SAD’s Manpreet Singh Ayali who has won from Dakha for the third time and AAP’s Sarvjit Kaur Manuke who has won from Jagraon for the second time, all other 11 seats in Ludhiana have been bagged by AAP candidates who are first timers.

In Samrala, AAP’s Jagtar Singh Diyalpura, a farmer and party’s Kisan wing leader, has defeated SAD’s Paramjit Singh Dhillon by over 30,000 votes. Indicating that the idea of farmers entering politics after a year-long agitation against Centre over the three farm Laws was outrightly rejected by the voters — Balbir Singh Rajewal, who was announced as CM face by farmers’ political front Sanyukt Samaj Morcha — did not finish even among top three. He was placed distant sixth with just a little over 4,700 votes. Congress’s four-time Samrala MLA Amrik Singh Dhillon who contested as an Independent after being denied the ticket, polled a little over 7,600 votes. In another major upset, Ashu lost from Ludhiana West against AAP’s Gurpreet Bassi Gogi, by 7,500 votes. Gogi, a former Congressman and four-time councillor, had contested assembly polls for the first time. He and Ashu worked together in Congress for over two decades.

Gurkirat Kotli, cabinet minister and two-time MLA, also faced defeat from Khanna. AAP’s Tarunpreet Singh Sond, party’s Youth wing leader, has won the seat. Kotli, in fact, finished third, after AAP’s Sond and SAD’s Jasdeep Kaur Yadu. While Sond defeated the SAD candidate by over 35,000 votes, Kotli got a little over 20,000 votes only.

Both MLA Bains brothers have also lost their seats.

Booked in a rape case ahead of elections, Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) president and two-time MLA Simarjeet Singh Bains and his elder brother MLA Balwinder Singh Bains, have been defeated in their bastions. Both brothers did not even finish second, polling fewer votes than AAP and Congress candidates.

Simarjeet has lost from Atam Nagar to AAP’s Kulwant Singh Sidhu, former state secretary of Congress who had joined AAP last year. Sidhu defeated Karwal by over 16,000 votes whereas Bains got just 12,720.

Balwinder Bains lost his Ludhiana South seat, from where AAP’s women’s wing leader Rajinder Pal Kaur Chhina has won. Chhina has defeated BJP’s Satinderpal Singh Tajpuri by over 26,000 votes. Balwinder Bains was placed fourth with just 11,906 votes as Congress candidate Ishwarjot Singh Cheema finishing third with nearly 15,000 votes.

In another shocker for Congress, its six-time MLA Rakesh Pandey lost from Ludhiana North with AAP’s Madan Lal Bagga winning the seat. Bagga who was earlier with Congress and SAD but was denied ticket by both parties, had contested twice as an Independent, but lost. Bagga has defeated BJP’s Parveen Bansal by over 15,000 votes whereas Pandey finished third with nearly 24,000 votes.

With over 92,000 votes polled in his favor, AAP’s Jiwan Singh Sanghowal has defeated SAD’s former MLA Darshan Singh Shivalik by a huge margin of over 57,000 votes from Gill constituency. Sitting Congress MLA Kuldip Singh Vaid, a former IAS officer who had won for the first time in 2017 from Gill, finished third and BJP’s Sucha Ram Ladhar, also a former IAS, finished fourth.

From Sahnewal, AAP’s Hardeep Singh Mundian who had defected from Congress, defeated Congress’s Vikram Singh Bajwa by over 15,000 votes. Bajwa is the son-in-law of former CM Rajinder Kaur Bhattal.

Hardeep Singh Mundian of AAP was leading from Sahnewal against Vikram Singh Bajwa of Congress. Bajwa is the son-in-law of former CM Rajinder Kaur Bhattal. Sitting MLA Sharanjit Singh Dhillon of SAD was placed third. Sitting MLA SAD’s Sharanjit Singh Dhillon finished third.

AAP’s Daljit Singh Grewal Bhola, also a former Congress leader, defeated Congress MLA Sanjay Talwar from Ludhiana East by over 35,000 votes.

From Ludhiana Central too, three-time Congress MLA Surinder Dawar faced defeat from AAP’s Ashok Prashar Pappi, a former Congress leader who switched to AAP. Pappi had also lost from Ludhiana South in 2012 on Congress ticket. Dawar finished third polling fewer votes than BJP’s Gurdev Sharma Debi.

From Jagraon, sitting AAP MLA Sarvjit Kaur Manuke defeated SAD’s SR Kaler by over 39,000 votes. Jagtar Singh Hissowal, who had switched from AAP to Congress as sitting MLA from Raikot, and then was given Congress ticket from Jagraon, was placed distant third.

Another party hopper, AAP’s Manwinder Singh Giaspura who switched from LIP to AAP, defeated Congress MLA Lakhvir Singh Lakha by over 33,000 votes from Payal.

From Raikot, AAP’s Hakam Singh Thekedar who had also switched from Congress to AAP, defeated Congress’s Kamil Amar Singh, son of Fatehgarh Sahib MP Dr Amar Singh, by more than 27,000 votes.

The highest winning margin was recorded in Gill from where AAP’s Jiwan Singh Sanghowal defeated SAD’s Darshan Singh Shivalik by 57644 votes. The lowest winning margin was in Ludhiana Central where AAP defeated BJP by just 4804 votes.