Congress party candidate Hardev Singh Laddi won Shahkot Assembly bypoll in Punjab by defeating his nearest rival, Shiromani Akali Dal nominee Naib Singh Kohar, by a margin of 38,801 votes.

Laddi got 82,745 votes while Akali Dal’s candidate Kohar polled 43,944 votes, officials said.

Congress wrested the Shahkot bypoll from SAD, which is in the Opposition. The Assembly seat was considered an Akali borough with the late Ajit Singh Kohar, Naib Singh Kohar’s father, having been elected from there five times.

With this victory, Congress’ strength in the 117-member Punjab Vidhan Sabha will reach 78, a two-third majority in the House.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Rattan Singh Kakkar Kalan polled just 1,900 votes.

The Shahkot Assembly bypoll was hotly contested between Congress’ Hardev Singh Ladi, Shiromani Akali Dal’s candidate Naib Singh Kohar and Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) candidate Rattan Singh Kakkar Kalan.

The Shahkot bypoll was necessitated after the death of Akali MLA Ajit Singh Kohar in February this year.

“The people of Punjab, especially voters of Shahkot, have once again put their stamp of approval on the policies of the Punjab government under the leadership of Captain Amarinder Singh. They have also shown the Akali Dal their place,” said Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar.

Jakhar, the Lok Sabha MP from Gurdaspur, also questioned the leadership of SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal following their defeat in their stronghold Shahkot.

He said the Akali Dal had been ruling the Shahkot Assembly constituency for the last 20 years and will now have to see whether they would still accept the leadership of Sukhbir Badal.

“Akali Dal has consistently faced humiliating defeats, be it the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha bypoll, the Shahkot bypoll today and also the civic polls,” said Jakhar.

He said the people of Shahkot had “broken the arrogance of Akali Dal and its leadership”.

The counting process for the Shahkot Assembly constituency bypoll began at 8 am in Jalandhar in the presence of the election observer, candidates of the political parties and their representatives amid tight security arrangements.

The counting centre was set up at the office of the director, Land Records, in Jalandhar.

Three-tier security arrangements were made to ensure peaceful counting of vote, an official said.

More than 300 police personnel were deployed at the counting centre to ensure that the counting proceeds smoothly, the official said.

Over 76 per cent of 1.72 lakh voters exercised their franchise for the May 28 bypoll where the Congress, SAD and AAP were locked in a triangular battle.

The Election Commission had used EVMs and VVPATs at the all the 236 polling stations.

In 2017 Assembly polls, the Congress had won 77 seats in the 117-member Punjab Vidhan Sabha, while the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance managed to win 18 seats.

The AAP had won 20 seats, while Lok Insaf Party had bagged two seats.