Chandigarh: Though a one-sided electoral fight, the number of votes Shiromani Akali Dal’s (SAD) Ravinder Singh Brahampura got to win Khadoor Sahib by-poll has reinforced the fact that people are not as ‘disenchanted’ with the ruling alliance in the state as is being projected by their political rivals. Brahampura polled 83,080 votes out of a total of 1,09,593 votes, a significant pointer to the fact that the ruling SAD remains a hard nut to crack for rivals including the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal described the results of Khadoor Sahib by-poll as a massive victory of positive agenda of ‘peace, communal harmony, brotherhood and development’ in the state and said that this outcome had laid the foundation stone of an unprecedented SAD-BJP win in the 2017 Vidhan Sabha elections.
“This is also a forceful mandate against politics of negative and destructive ideas and forces who had sought to destabilise Punjab and hamper its progress through their anti-peace and anti-Punjab activities in recent times,” said Badal.
Though the Congress and the AAP had decided to stay away. This is a forceful mandate against politics of negative and destructive ideas and forces who had sought to destabilize Punjab and hamper its progress through their anti-peace activities in recent times.”
Former Chief Minister and Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Captain Amarinder Singh, however, chose to reject Khadoor Sahab bye-election verdict as ‘insignificant and inconsequential,’ saying that the result would make no difference to anybody. “The outcome of Khadoor Sahab bye-election is quite insignificant and inconsequential when the issue of the desecration of holy Guru Granth Sahib and the subsequent police firing and killing of innocent protestors had not been resolved as yet,” he said.
According to Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) V K Singh, at the end of 15 rounds of counting, Brahampura had polled 83,080 votes as against 17,416 in favour of Bhupinder.
“Ravinder Brahampura has won by 65,664 votes,” he said.
The by-poll was necessitated after the seat fell vacant in the wake of Congress MLA Ramanjit Singh Sikki’s resignation in protest against sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib last year. Development is our priority. We will further accelerate development in our constituency and in entire Punjab.”