Giving a body blow to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab, the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) chief Simranjit Singh Mann on Sunday defeated the AAP candidate Gurmail Singh in the by-election to Sangrur Lok Sabha seat, an AAP pocket borough.
Mann won the seat by a margin of about 5,822 votes; he secured over 2.53 lakh votes, as against Gurmail Singh’s 2.47 lakh. Congress’ Dalvir Singh Goldy, who finished third, BJP’s Kewal Dhillon (fourth) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) candidate Kamaldeep Kaur Rajoana (fifth) lost their deposits in the high stake by-poll that also marked the first three months of the AAP rule in the state.
The AAP had come to power in February assembly polls this year with a landslide victory winning 92 of the total 117 seats. Sangrur Lok Sabha seat, represented since 2014 by chief minister Bhagwant Mann, had been an AAP’ stronghold and in the 2022 assembly polls the party had swept all its nine assembly segments.
With this defeat, the AAP has lost its representation in the Lok Sabha, as chief minister Bhagwant Mann was the only MP from AAP before he was sworn in as Punjab chief minister about three months ago, necessitating the by-poll.
In this high stake contest, Mann spearheaded the campaign and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal had hosted several roadshows; however, the opposition flagged law and order issues and took the matter to a flash point after the shocking killing of popular Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala on May 29 last.
DISILLUSIONMENT
The voters’ rejection of AAP within 100 days of its rule in the state has surprised political observers. Sangrur seat had been Mann's citadel since 2014. The disillusionment was evident with a turnout as low as 45.3%.
Several senior AAP leaders, whom FPJ talked with but who did not want to be named, said that the issue of Delhi’s remote control and the sensational murder of Moosewala showed the party in poor light despite its drive against corruption.
Party workers, especially from Sangrur Lok Sabha area, were also anguished at not getting any Rajya Sabha nomination, which smacked of Delhi’s all-pervasive control.
Some of the district and block level leaders of Sangrur Lok Sabha constituency said that even their MLAs – from Lehra, Dirba, Barnala, Sunam, Bhadaur, Mehal Kalan, Malerkotla, Dhuri and Sangrur - had stopped taking their calls saying that they did not have any say in the state government, hence a large number of the AAP foot soldiers' did not even come out to vote.
WIN AFTER 29 YRS
A former IPS officer and a former two-time MP, Simranjit Singh Mann, 77, has won an election after a gap of 29 years. Mann hogged limelight in 1984 when he resigned from Indian Police Services (IPS) in protest against Operation Bluestar in 1984. However, he won his first election in absentia (while lodged in Bhagalpur jail) in 1989 from Tarn Taran Lok Sabha (now Khadoor Sahib) seat by a margin of 4.6 lakh votes. Mann, however, did not enter Parliament after being denied entry with his ``kirpan.’’ In 1999, he won the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat by defeating former chief minister Surjit Singh Barnala.
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