AAP loses Bhagwant Mann’s seat, drops to zero in Lok Sabha

• The Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) candidate Simranjit Singh Mann defeated the ruling party’s nominee on a Lok Sabha seat.
• The AAP won’t have a representative in the lower chamber of parliament.
• Simranjit Singh Mann defeated Gurmail Singh of the AAP by a margin of more than 5,800 votes for the Sangrur Lok Sabha constituency.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) candidate Simranjit Singh Mann defeated the ruling party’s nominee on a Lok Sabha seat held most recently by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, handing the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) a crushing loss in the Punjab by-elections on Sunday. As a result, the AAP won’t have a representative in the lower chamber of parliament.

After a close race, Simranjit Singh Mann defeated Gurmail Singh of the AAP by a margin of more than 5,800 votes for the Sangrur Lok Sabha constituency.

The 77-year-old is the head of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), which is separate from the broader Shiromani Akali Dal. He is a former member of parliament. He last won a vote from that location in 1999.

Some people interpreted his election as a support for Punjab’s “Panthic” hard-line religious politics, which rose to prominence during the state’s militancy and had been in decline over the previous two decades.

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Punjabi artist Sidhu Moose Wala, who was assassinated by thugs last month, supported Simranjit Singh Mann as well.

In addition to the late actor-activist Deep Sidhu and Moose Wala, “who donated their blood for the Sikh community,” he dedicated his win to the people of Sangrur.

“India’s politics would be affected by this. What would Simranjit Singh Mann do? was a common joke. Today has shown them to be mistaken “said Simranjit Mann.

The AAP attributed their defeat to the fact that only 45.30% of eligible voters turned out for the byelection for the Sangrur Lok Sabha constituency, compared to 72.44 percent in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and 76.71 percent in the 2014 elections. This time, 15.69 lakh people were eligible to vote.

On June 23, sixteen candidates showed up for the competition. In the results, Dalvir Singh Goldy of the Congress, Kewal Dhillon of the BJP, and Kamaldeep Kaur Rajoana of the Akali Dal were placed third, fourth, and fifth, respectively.

Bhagwant Mann’s retirement from his Lok Sabha seat following his election as an MLA in the state assembly elections earlier this year forced the need for the byelection.

In the parliamentary elections held in 2014 and 2019, Bhagwant Mann defeated a national challenge from the BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to win the Sangrur seat.

After the Aam Aadmi Party’s landslide victory in the state assembly elections in March of this year, the byelection was the first significant electoral contest.

The byelection was considered by the ruling AAP as a prestige contest to keep its stronghold, while Congress, BJP, and SAD, the opposition parties, were hoping to win after being thoroughly defeated in the assembly elections.

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While the Congress backed former Dhuri MLA Goldy, the AAP put forth Singh, 38, who is the party’s Sangrur district in-charge.

Former Barnala MLA Dhillon, who joined the party earlier this month, was a candidate for the BJP.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is regarded as having its stronghold in the Sangrur parliamentary constituency, which it won in all nine of the assembly districts up for election in 2022 — Lehra, Dirba, Barnala, Sunam, Bhadaur, Mehal Kalan, Malerkotla, Dhuri, and Sangrur.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Bhagwant Mann won the Sangrur seat by defeating SAD contender Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa by a margin of 2.11 lakh votes.