Congress candidate Sunil Jakhar has won the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha bypoll by defeating his nearest rival, BJP nominee Swaran Salaria with a margin of 1,93,219 votes.
Jakhar polled 4,99,752 votes while Salaria polled 3,06,533, media reports quoted poll officials as saying.
Aam Aadmi Party nominee Major General (Retd) Suresh Khajuria was at the third sport with 23,579 votes, reported PTI.
The seat had fallen vacant after the death of BJP MP Vinod Khanna in April this year, the report said.
The Congress reportedly won this seat after the 2009 Lok Sabha poll when Congress candidate Partap Singh Bajwa had won this seat by defeating BJP candidate Vinod Khanna.
Khanna was four-time MP from Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat, the report said, adding that the actor had won this seat in 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2014.
An elated Jakhar thanked voters for the resounding victory in the bypoll.
“With this victory, people have reaffirmed faith in the leadership of Amarinder Singh,” said Jakhar.
“This is a victory for the Congress and Capt Amarinder Singh,” he reportedly said.
Congratulating Jakhar, the Punjab chief minister said it is a victory for the development agenda.
“Congratulations to @sunilkjakhar ji for his impressive win in #Gurdaspur bypoll, it’s a victory for @INCPunjab policies & development agenda,” Amarinder tweeted.
After the trends suggesting massive lead for Congress, party workers assembled at the party office in Chandigarh and started distributing sweets and danced, reported PTI.
Talking to reporters, state cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu said, “We have sent a beautiful Diwali gift packed with red ribbon to our would-be President Rahul Gandhi because it sets the tone…It will be a shot in the arm for the Congress.”
“This (victory) is a big slap on the face of ‘jija -saala’ (SAD chief Sukhbir Badal and Bikram Singh Majithia). Today BJP will realise that Akali Dal in Punjab has become a burden. Time and again people have reprimanded them. It will be demoralising and send them (SAD-BJP) packing,” PTI quoted Sidhu as saying.
Both the BJP and the AAP accused the Congress of misusing official machinery to win the bypoll.
Punjab BJP Secretary Vineet Joshi alleged that the Congress misused the official machinery in the bypoll, the reports said.
