Punjab bypolls | AAP wrests 3 seats, Congress wins one, BJP draws blank

Chandigarh: In a boost to Punjab's AAP, the party wrested Gidderbaha, Dera Baba Nanak, and Chabbewal Assembly segments while the Congress won the Barnala seat in the bypolls, the results of which were declared on Saturday.

The bypolls, which took place on November 20, were necessitated after the incumbent legislators were elected to the Lok Sabha earlier this year.

The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) managed to breach the Congress bastion in Gidderbaha and Dera Baba Nanak segments, however, it lost its own stronghold of Barnala Assembly segment to the main opposition party.

The BJP drew a blank in the bypolls as its candidates remained at a distant third spot in the four seats. The Shiromani Akali Dal had stayed away from the bypolls.

With this victory, the AAP will have 94 seats and the Congress will have 16 in the 117-member Assembly.

As the results came on, AAP leaders and workers burst firecrackers, distributed sweets and danced to the beats of 'dhol' while victory marches were taken out by the successful candidates in their respective constituencies.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann congratulated the people of Punjab for the "spectacular" victory in the bypolls.

"Under the leadership of @ArvindKejriwal ji, Aam Aadmi Party is touching new heights day by day across the country. We are working day and night honestly and without any discrimination for the progress and prosperity of Punjab. We will fulfil every promise made to Punjabis during the by-elections on a priority basis. Best wishes to everyone," he said in a post on X.

AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal, in a post on X, said the people of Punjab have once again expressed their faith in the ideology of the AAP and the work of the state government by giving three out of four seats to his party in the bypolls.

In Gidderbaha, AAP candidate Hardeep Singh Dimpy Dhillon defeated his nearest rival Congress nominee Amrita Warring, who is the wife of Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring.

In a three-cornered contest, Dhillon defeated Congress nominee Amrita Warring by a margin of 21,969 votes.

Dhillon secured 71,644 votes while Amrita got 49,675 votes. BJP candidate and former finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal secured 12,227 votes while Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) candidate Sukhraj Singh got only 715 votes.

Raja Warring represented this seat in 2012, 2017 and 2022.

AAP nominee Ishank Kumar Chabbewal won the Chabbewal segment in Hoshiarpur. He defeated his nearest rival and Congress nominee Ranjit Kumar by a margin of 28,690 votes.

Ishank polled 51,904 votes while Congress party candidate Kumar secured 23,214 votes. BJP's Sohan Singh Thandal was at the third spot with 8,692 votes.

The Chabbewal bypoll was necessitated after Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal, who was a Congress MLA but later joined the AAP, was elected to the Lok Sabha from Hoshiarpur.

Ishank, who is a doctor, is the son of Raj Kumar Chabbewal who represented the Chabbewal segment in 2017 and 2022 on Congress tickets.

AAP candidate Gurdeep Singh Randhawa won the Dera Baba Nanak seat after he defeated Congress nominee Jatinder Kaur by a margin of 5,699 votes.

In the fierce contest between the Congress and the AAP, Randhawa secured 59,104 votes while Kaur polled 53,405 votes. BJP candidate Ravi Karan Singh Kahlon could manage just 6,505 votes as he trailed at third spot.

In the neck-and-neck contest, Kaur was leading from the third to the eighth round of counting. But later, Randhawa maintained the lead in the following rounds.

Kaur is the wife of Congress MP from Gurdaspur Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, who represented this seat in 2002, 2012, 2017 and 2022.

However, the Barnala seat sprang a surprise for the ruling party as it lost to the Congress. Congress candidate Kuldeep Singh Dhillon defeated AAP nominee Harinder Singh Dhaliwal by 2,157 votes.

In the multi-cornered contest, Dhillon secured 28,254 votes while Dhaliwal got 26,097 votes. BJP candidate Kewal Singh Dhillon secured 17,958 votes while AAP rebel and independent candidate Gurdeep Singh Batth secured 16,899 votes.

Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) candidate Govind Singh Sandhu got 7,900 votes, as per the result.

The AAP's chances in the Barnala seat appeared to have been dented by AAP rebel Gurdeep Singh Batth, who fought as an Independent after he was denied the ticket by the party. Batth secured more than 16,000 votes.

Barnala seat was seen as the AAP's citadel. AAP's Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, who is now Sangrur MP, represented the Barnala segment in 2017 and 2022.

The bypolls were seen as a litmus test for Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann as a victory was important for him because the AAP faced a drubbing in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in which it could win just three of the 13 parliamentary constituencies in Punjab.

The stakes were also high for the main opposition Congress. Prestige was at stake for its MPs Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Sukhjinder Randhawa, whose wives contested the bypolls from Gidderbaha and Dera Baba Nanak seats, respectively.

The BJP was also looking to put up a strong show in the bypolls after it drew a blank in the general elections from the state.

Counting of votes for the bypolls to Punjab's four Assembly segments began at 8 am on Saturday.

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Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls took place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP went up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress tried to make their mark. Maha Yuti are currently comfortably poised to win. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faced a challenge after Hemant Soren's arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP, but look set to retain power with its I.N.D.I.A. allies. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.

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