Reversal of 2002: Gurdaspur does 10/11 for SAD-BJP

The Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance retrieved lost ground by bagging 10 seats out of the 11 assembly segments in Gurdaspur, with the Congress having to contend with only the Kahnuwan seat.

It was a reversal of fortune for the Congress which in the 2002 assembly elections had won 10 seats here, with only the
Sri Hargobindpur seat going to the SAD, won by its nominee Capt Balbir Singh Bath.

This time round in Kahnuwan, former education and PWD minister Partap Singh Bajwa defeated SAD nominee and former minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan by more than 4,700 votes.

While anti-incumbency and price rise are considered major reasons for the Congress debacle, the mandate of urban voters in favour of the BJP is causing heartburn within the Congress, and no senior party leader was willing to make a statement regarding the vote against party candidates in the district.

While Bajwa had claimed votes on the issue of development In Kahnuwan constituency and got them, the Congress's
development plank did not appeal to the voters in other constituencies in the district. Transport minister and Congress strongman Raghunath Sahai Puri was defeated by BJP first-timer Thakur Dinesh Babbu from Sujanpur constituency, and parliamentary secretary Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa lost to SAD nominee and former minister Nirmal Singh Kahlon Fatehgarh Churian constituency.

Congress strongman in Batala, Ashwani Sekhri, was defeated by Jagdish Raj Sahni while in neighbouring Qadian, Punjab Pollution Control Board chairman Tript Rajinder Singh was routed at the hands of Lakhbir Singh Randhawa, former Batala Improvement Trust chairman, who had defected from the Congress to the SAD and was given a ticket by the party.

Perhaps the biggest setback to Congress was the defeat of former top cop Pritam Singh Bhinder, who contested the
Gurdaspur seat as a party nominee against green-horn Gurbachan Singh Babbehali, the SAD nominee who had ditched the Congress to join the Badal bandwagon before the election notification.

Political analysts said the reason for Bhinder's defeat was that while the rural belt voted for Babbehali, he could not garner votes in Gurdaspur city due to 'disgruntled' elements in the party like former minister Khushal Behal. Bhinder, however, has denied this in a statement.

In Pathankot, former minister and BJP candidate Master Mohanlal defeated Congress legislator Ashok Sharma while in neighbouring Dinanagar and Narot Mehra constituencies, BJP nominees Sita Ram Kashyap and Bishambar Das defeated Aruna Chowdhary and Rumal Chand, the sitting Congress legislators respectively.