The Congress on Sunday wrested the Gurdaspur parliamentary seat from the BJP, with the party’s Sunil Jakhar defeating his nearest rival, Swaran Salaria of the BJP, by 1,93,219 votes in the byelection.
Mr. Jakhar secured 4,99,752 votes, while Mr. Salaria polled 3,06,533 votes. The Aam Aadmi Party’s Major General (Retd) Suresh Khajuria lost his deposit with just 23,579 votes and was in the third position, according to the Election Commission.
The Gurdaspur seat fell vacant after the death of four-time MP Vinod Khanna in April this year. The byelections were held on October 11.
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Rejection of BJP policies
Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amaridner Singh termed the victory a rejection of the anti-people policies of the BJP and its ally, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).
“The massive win for Sunil Jakhar shows the people’s denunciation of the BJP and the SAD,” he said, adding that it also underlined the political annihilation of the AAP in the State.
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Capt. Amarinder Singh compared the byelection results to the Chikmaglur victory of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, which marked the revival of the Congress in the late 1970s.
“This result has shown that the party was on revival path. The Congress’s victory in the Maharashtra civic polls as well in the Kerala byelection are good signs. The Congress would do well in the coming Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls as well,” he said.
Attributing the relatively low voter turnout to the ongoing paddy season, Capt. Amarinder said the Gurdaspur result further strengthened the reversal in the trends for the Congress, which began with the latter’s sweep in students’ union elections in various universities.
“While the Gurdaspur result reflected the impact of the GST and demonetisation, it also showed that the people were fed up of the Akalis, whose leaders including Sukhbir Badal and Bikram Singh Majithia, had been campaigning in the constituency in support of the BJP candidate,” said Capt. Amarinder.
The BJP and the AAP however, accused the Congress of misusing the official machinery to win the bypoll.
Govt. machinery misused
Senior AAP leader Sukhpal Khaira said, “Although AAP has no hesitation to accept its defeat... at the same time the track record of Punjab byelections clearly indicates that it is the ruling party which always wins these elections,” he said. AAP candidate Maj.Gen. (Retd) Suresh Khajuria accused the ruling party of using undemocratic means.
Capt. Amarinder, however, denied charges and said unity in the Congress had ensured that every member of the party came out to campaign.
Speaking to the media, the Chief Minister said while the government was committed to implementing the NGT ban on stubble burning, it could not afford to compensate the farmers for paddy residue management.
He ruled out penalisation of the farmers, who were already under extreme economic distress, leading to suicides. “The central government needs to step in and agree to the State’s demand for ₹100 per quintal to be incorporated in paddy MSP as compensation for stubble management,” he said.
To a question on cabinet expansion, the Chief Minister said he would undertake the same in due course, after discussions with AICC vice president Rahul Gandhi.