25,000 winners and 40,000 losers in Punjab

Chandigarh, Jan 15: A few candidates of the opposition Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) despite getting about 25,000 votes in the last assembly polls emerged victorious, while there were a few others who despite getting about 40,000 votes, lost in the previous elections.

SAD contested 92 of the 117 seats in the 2002 polls and won 41 seats. Its ally the BJP which contested 23 seats, managed just three while another partner the Bhaujan Samaj Morcha (BSM) lost both the seats it contested.

In the last polls, there were five nominees of SAD who won by narrows margins of about 1000 votes. Amongst these candidates were Bhag Singh from Jagraon, Capt Kanwaljit Singh from Banur, Jathedar Tota Singh from Moga, Mantar Singh Brar from Kot Kapura and Balwinder Singh Bhunder from Sardulgarh. All these five candidates have been again fielded by SAD.

From the Dhuri constituency, SAD candidate Ganganjit Singh, son of Tamilnadu Governor Surjit Singh Barnala, emerged victorious by securing a mere 25,538 votes. Similarly from Mahilpur (reserve) SAD's Sohan Singh Thandal won by getting 27,424 votes and from Sri Hargobindpur, Capt Balbir Singh Bhatt emerged victorious by securing 27,836 votes.

From the Dhanula seat, Gobind Singh Longowal of the SAD won by securing a mere 31,007 votes and from Gardiwala (reserve) Desraj Dhugga also of the SAD got 30,761 to win the seat. Bhag Singh who won from Jagraon secured 32,152 votes. Likewise from Chamkaur Sahib (reserve) Mrs Satwant Kaur won by getting 33,511 votes. Mrs Satwant Kaur is again in the field from the same constituency, while Desraj Dhugga is contested from Gardiwala.

Among the nominees of the Dal who emerged victorious by securing 40,000 or more votes was SAD chief Prakash Singh Badal, who secured 50,545 votes to defeat Mahesh Inder Singh (Ind) who got 26,616 votes from the Lambi segment. Mr Badal's nephew, Manpreet Singh Badal secured the highest number of votes among the Akali candidates. He got 59,336 votes as against 43,801 votes by Congrees rival, Raghubir Singh from Gidderbaha.

The second highest votes secured by a SAD candidate was from Faridkot, where Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon got 57,282 votes. His nearest rival Avtar Singh Brar of the Congress got 51,011 votes.

In the current elections Mr Badal is again in the field from Lambi, Manpreet is contesting from Gidderbaha and Kushaldeep is the SAD nominee from Faridkot. From the Ajnala constitueny, Rattan Singh Ajnala of SAD despite getting 47,182 votes managed to win by a narrow margin. This time his son Amarpal Singh Boni is the SAD nominee from Ajnala, as Rattan Singh is an MP from Tarn Taran.

Another interesting fact of the last polls was that the SAD candidates from Fatehgarh Churian (Nirmal Singh Khalon), Qadian (Natha Singh Dalam) and Beas (Manjinder Singh Kang) lost despite getting about 40,000 votes. Mr Kahlon is again the SAD nominee from Fatehgarh Churian while Mr Kang is contesting from Beas. The candidate for Qadian has been changed as Mr Dalam died about a year back.

UNI