Punjab Bypolls: Congress wins 3, SAD 1 as CM’s close aide loses

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh (Photo: IANS)


The ruling Congress on Thursday won three of the four Punjab Assembly seats which went for bypolls on Monday.

While the Congress won in Jalalabad, Mukerian and Phagwara, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) registered a victory on the Dakha seat.

While the Congress wrested Jalalabad seat from the SAD, the ruling party suffered a major jolt with party candidate from Dakha, Sandeep Sandu, a close aide of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, lost to the Akali Dal candidate, Manpreet Singh Ayali won by 14,672 votes. The seat was earlier represented by Aam Aadmi Party whose HS Phoolka had resigned from the Assembly.

In Jalalabad, which is considered an Akali bastion and was earlier represented by SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal who resigned from the seat following his election to Lok Sabha, Congress candidate Raminder Awla defeated SAD candidate Raj Singh Dibipura by a margin of 16,633 votes.

Congress nominee Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal won over BJP nominee Rajesh Bagha by a comfortable margin of 26,116 votes from the Phagwara seat which was earlier represented by the BJP.

Congress candidate Indu Bala won from Mukerian seat by defeating her BJP nominee Jangi Lal Mahajan with a margin of 3,440 votes. The seat fell vacant following the death of Congress MLA Rajnish Kumar Babbi. Indu Bala is the wife of Babbi.