The Aam Aadmi Party Thursday stormed to power in Punjab, bagging a record 92 of the 117 seats by decimating the Congress and the SAD-BSP combine, and handing a defeat to several stalwarts including chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, Parkash Singh Badal and Amarinder Singh.
While the AAP bagged three-fourths of the seats, the Congress won 18, the Shiromani Akali Dal three, the BJP two and the BSP just one. An independent also emerged victorious. The AAP will now form its second government in the country after the one led by Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi.
Aman Arora of Aam Aadmi Party recorded the biggest margin, winning Sunam constituency by a margin of 75,277 votes against Congress’ Jaswinder Singh Dhiman. The lowest margin was recorded by AAP’s Raman Arora, who won Jalandhar Central by 247 votes against Congress’ Rajinder Beri. The second-lowest margin (466) was recorded by Congress’ Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa.
Political stalwarts like Channi, Parkash Singh Badal, Amarinder Singh, Navjot Singh Sidhu and Sukhbir Singh Badal had to face the drubbing.
Channi was defeated by the AAP’s Labh Singh Ugoke with a margin of 37,558 votes from Bhadaur. He also lost from Chamkaur Sahib, where he was defeated by the AAP’s Charanjit Singh by a margin of 7,942 votes.
SAD patriarch and former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal (94), the oldest candidate in the fray, lost to AAP’s Gurmeet Singh Khudian from his traditional Lambi seat in Muktsar district by a margin of 11,396 votes. SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal lost to the AAP’s Jagdeep Kamboj from Jalalabad seat in Fazilka district by a margin of 30,930 votes.
Amarinder Singh, 79, lost to AAP’s Ajit Pal Singh Kohli from Patiala (Urban) by a margin of 19,873 votes. Punjab Congress chief Sidhu, senior SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia and several Punjab ministers also faced defeat.
