AAP magic plays out in Mohali district too

Sanjay Bumbroo

Mohali, March 10

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won all three Assembly seats — Mohali, Kharar and Dera Bassi — in the district.

The richest candidate of Punjab having assets worth Rs254.68 crore and realtor-turned-politician Kulwant Singh contesting the Mohali seat on the AAP ticket defeated the three-time MLA and former Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu by a margin of 34,097 votes. Kulwant Singh got 77,134 votes, while Sidhu polled 43,037 and BJP’s Sanjeev Vashisht, a first-timer, 17,020. As many as 1,192 voters went with the NOTA (none of the above) option.

Kulwant Singh secured 50.08 per cent of the total 1,54,004 valid votes, while Sidhu secured 27.94 per cent votes. Vashisht got 11.05 per cent vote share.

In Mohali, apart from the three main candidates, only three candidates managed to touch the four-digit figure. The lone transgender contesting the elections got only 344 votes. Of the nine candidates in the constituency, seven, including Vashisht, saw forfeiture of their security deposit.

In Dera Bassi, a first-timer and AAP candidate Kuljit Singh Randhawa secured 69,870 votes, defeating his nearest rival Deepinder Singh Dhillon of the Congress by 21,610 votes. Dhillon got 48,260 votes, while two-time MLA and SAD candidate NK Sharma secured 47,678 votes. As many as 1,410 voters opted for NOTA.

Randhawa got 36.49 per cent of the total 1,91,471 valid votes, while Dhillon got 25.20 per cent and NK Sharma 24.9 per cent. Apart from the three main candidates, only one managed to touch the four-digit figure. Of the 14 candidates in the constituency, only three managed to save their security deposit.

In Kharar too, first-timer Anmol Gagan Maan of AAP defeated her nearest rival Ranjit Singh Gill of the SAD by a margin of 37,718 votes. Maan secured 78,067 votes while Gill polled 40,349 votes. Vijay Sharma Tinku of the Congress was at the third spot with 25,265 votes.

Maan secured 44.26 per cent of the total 1,76,358 valid votes polled in the constituency, while Gill got 22.87 per cent and Tinku only 14.32 per cent. As many as 734 voters opted for NOTA.

Apart from the three main candidates, only four candidates managed to touch the four-digit figure in Kharar. Of the total 14 candidates in the constituency, 12, including Tinku, lost their security deposits.

Kulwant Richest candidate in state
Kulwant Singh (Mohali)

A realtor-turned-politician and former Mayor of Mohali MC, Kulwant Singh (60), who won the Mohali Assembly seat on the AAP ticket, is the richest candidate in the state having assets worth Rs254.68 crore. However, Kulwant, owner of Janta Land Promoters Limited (JLPL), does not own a car and has only two-wheelers registered in his name. He drives a Bentley car, which is registered in the name of his company, while the two-wheelers are used by his children. In 1988, Kulwant had developed a colony in Janta Nagar, Kharar. Kulwant is not new to politics as his journey started around two decades ago when he contested the municipal committee elections in 1995 and emerged victorious. He had been senior vice-president in the MC from 1995 to 2000 and remained president till 2005. Kulwant had unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha elections from Fatehgarh Sahib in 2014 on the SAD ticket. He was expelled from the party as he had formed the Azad group during the Mohali MC elections and won 10 seats in 2015. With the support of the Congress, he was elected the Mayor. Later in 2017, he joined the SAD, but was again expelled for anti-party activities on January 16, 2021. After that he contested the civic poll under the Azad Group but lost.

Singer Anmol shines on political debut
Anmol Gagan Maan (Kharar)

A well-known singer in Punjab, Anmol Gagan Maan, who entered the political playground with the 2022 Assembly elections on the AAP ticket, has put out an impressive performance on her political debut. Anmol, also known as Gagandeep Kaur Maan, is a popular singer, lyricist and music composer. The 32-year-old was born in Mansa district in Punjab. Her hometown is Mohali. She also participated in the farmers’ protest on the Delhi border against the three farm laws introduced by the Central Government, which were later repealed.

Maan, a graduate in psychology and music from MCM DAV College in Chandigarh, was crowned Miss Mohali Punjaban at Miss World Punjaban in 2013. She took to music and dance at an early age and went to the UK in 2014, where she was adjudged the winner of the World Folk Dance Competition of the year.

Randhawa storms SAD stronghold
Kuljit Randhawa (Dera Bassi)

AAP candidate from Dera Bassi Kuljit Singh Randhawa (60), an agriculturalist, has stormed the SAD stronghold on the Dera Bassi seat and established himself as a major player ahead of the Congress. “Randhawa was the president of the Punjab State Panchayat Parishad earlier. He was also the Zila Parishad chairman and has headed the Dera Bassi Truck Union for more than a decade,” said Kamaljit Singh Lohgarh, Zirakpur AAP incharge. Randhawa’s election campaign was boosted by AAP CM candidate Bhagwant Mann holding poll meetings in Zirakpur and Dera Bassi. AAP leader Raghav Chadha too campaigned for him here. A resident of Bakarpur, Randhawa has agricultural land and residential and commercial properties worth crores at several places. He did BA from Punjabi University, Patiala, in 1984. He declared immovable assets worth Rs7.05 crore, movable assets worth Rs20.43 crore and an annual income of Rs14.01 lakh.