Punjab Sangrur Lok Sabha bypoll results: SAD(A)’s Simranjit Mann wins by 5,800 votes

In a major setback to Punjab’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party, Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) candidate Simranjit Singh Mann won the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat on Sunday by nearly 6,000 votes against AAP’s  Gurmail Singh.

Punjab | Simranjit Singh Mann of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) wins Sangrur Lok Sabha bypoll pic.twitter.com/WD2rZMIGDH

— ANI (@ANI) June 26, 2022

Following the win, AAP rival Gurmail Singh took to twitter to thank the voters for electing him:

I am grateful to our voters of Sangrur for having elected me as your representative in parliament. I will work hard to ameliorate the sufferings of our farmers, farm-labour, traders and everyone in my constituency.

— Simranjit Singh Mann (@SimranjitSADA) June 26, 2022

Meanwhile, AAP conceded defeat in the bypoll, saying that it respects the mandate of the voters.

Mann, 77, is a former MP and the president of SAD (Amritsar). He was up against Congress candidate Dalvir Singh Goldy, BJP’s Kewal Dhillon and AAP’s  Gurmail Singh. Counting of votes began at 8 am on Sunday amid tight security arrangements.

The fate of 16 candidates, who are in the fray, was sealed during polling on 23 June. The bypoll to Sangrur Lok Sabha seat had witnessed a low turnout of 45.30 per cent as against 72.44 per cent polling in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and 76.71 per cent in 2014 polls. There were 15.69 lakh eligible voters this time.

The bypoll was necessitated due to the resignation of Bhagwant Mann from the Lok Sabha seat after he was elected as an MLA in the state assembly elections earlier this year. Bhagwant Mann, who is the state’s chief minister now, had won the Sangrur seat in the 2014 and 2019 parliamentary elections.

The bypoll is the first major electoral battle after the Aam Aadmi Party’s resounding victory in the state Assembly polls in March this year. For the ruling AAP, the bypoll is seen as a battle of prestige for retaining its bastion, while for Opposition parties Congress, BJP and SAD are looking to register a victory after being decimated in the Assembly polls.

Sangrur parliamentary constituency is considered the bastion of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which won all the nine assembly segments – Lehra, Dirba, Barnala, Sunam, Bhadaur, Mehal Kalan, Malerkotla, Dhuri and Sangrur in the 2022 Assembly elections.

Bhagwant Mann had won the Sangrur seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls after defeating SAD candidate Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa with a margin of 2.11 lakh votes. Mann again contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Sangrur and won it by a margin of 1.10 lakh votes after defeating Congress party’s Kewal Dhillon.

While the Opposition parties – Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal and BJP – took on the AAP for alleged deteriorating law and order situation, murder of popular singer Sidhu Moose Wala and unfulfilled poll promises, the ruling party focused on eradicating corruption, giving jobs to youngsters, improving condition of schools and hospitals, and paving the way for a “Rangla (vibrant) Punjab” again.

With input from PTI

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