Voters remain loyal to Congress, show turncoat the door

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, June 4

The state’s main Opposition Congress’ decent victory and the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) finishing poor third in the June 1 high-stakes General Election to the 18th Lok Sabha in Ludhiana has a clear message from voters.

They remained loyal to the Congress by offering maiden parliamentary entry to party’s state president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and showing the door to their turncoat sitting three-time MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, who had quit the Congress to contest the elections on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket.

Ludhiana elected the Congress MP for a record 12th time and third consecutive term in the 19th Lok Sabha elections held here since 1952.

The voters kept their allegiance to the INDIA bloc’s main constituent, notwithstanding a host of benefits and reliefs doled out by the two-year-old Bhagwant Mann-led AAP regime, and the AAP failing to even keep along its two of the three MLAs that had won in 2017 till the 2022 poll.

And this sentiment is doubly underlined by the fact that the ruling party not even secured lead in any of the nine Assembly segments, eight of which were won by the AAP in the 2022 Assembly poll, under the Ludhiana LS constituency. The AAP, which had sprung a surprise by winning an unprecedented 13 of the total 14 Assembly seats in Ludhiana district two years ago, even lost from the Ludhiana Central segment, which was represented by Ashok Parashar Pappi – the party’s nominee for this parliamentary poll.

Though the Congress’ margin of victory this time was not that huge, it sent a clear message that the voters here can elect anyone fielded by the party but would not accept party hoppers.

Warring, a three-time sitting MLA from Gidderbaha in Muktsar district and former transport minister, was dubbed as an “outsider” by his opponents, especially Bittu, whom the former called “traitor”.

It underscores the point that the Ludhianvis vented their ire against the turncoat and the BJP, which contested alone for the first time after 1996, besides giving two hoots to the ruling AAP and even the lone regional party Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which not even managed 1 lakh votes this time. This was despite the fact that the SAD had won five LS elections from here in the past.

The mandate also rejected the much-hyped Punjab and Delhi models of governance, which the AAP had been harping on to seek votes in less than mid-term to their ruling the border state.

The BJP leading in five of the six urban Assembly segments showed that the urban and migrant electorate pressed lotus to go with the Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre but the saffron party’s dismal performance in three rural seats paved way for the Congress to retain its citadel in the Malwa’s biggest pocket.

It will not be inapt to say Ludhianvis have voted for the Congress, more than its state chief Warring. However, some observers seek to dilute this point by stating that Ludhiana this time polled over 60 per cent votes, which was not much less than 62.77 per cent polling recorded here in 2019 while the 2022 Assembly poll had reported 67.67 per cent turnout when the AAP had “broomed” the district.

However, Ludhiana’s polling this time was also over 2 per cent less than the state’s average voter turnout of 62.8 per cent.

While the urban Assembly segment of Ludhiana West topped the parliamentary constituency with the highest of over 63 per cent polling, the rural Jagraon Assembly segment recorded the lowest of over 56 per cent voter turnout, the official figures have revealed.

The loser BJP and the AAP cadres, which are demoralised, feel that it was a clever ploy by the Congress to have guaranteed what it claims as “unviable and impossible” benefits and reliefs to people as part of its pre-poll promises to woo them.

While the Congress ranks, who had made much of the party’s decision to go solo in Punjab despite being partners with AAP in the INDIA bloc, are in high spirits and feel strongly that the outcome in the LS poll will find its echo in the 2027 Assembly elections also and will pave the way for freeing Punjab from the clutches of AAP.

The mandate is not only shocking for the decimated AAP and other traditional parties but is also beyond what the Congress had expected. “We were expecting a win but not the lead of over 25,000 votes,” confided a senior Congress leader.

In the history of Ludhiana, it is for the first time that any political party has recorded four wins in a row since 2009 when Manish Tewari had reclaimed the seat from the SAD’s 2004 winner Sharanjit Singh Dhillon. With Bittu winning the past two elections in 2019 and 2014, Warring’s 2024 victory was a record fourth consecutive triumph for the Congress.

While Bittu consoled the defeat with the victory in five of the total nine Assembly segments, it is the worst show for AAP, which trailed in all nine seats.

In the past, the Congress and the SAD, previously with its old ally the BJP, had been winning from Ludhiana, 11 and five times, respectively.

Of the total 18 LS elections held here since 1952 (2024 excluded), the Simranjit Singh Mann-led SAD (Amritsar) and the Swatantra Party, founded by C Rajagopalachari, were the only exceptions of having represented Ludhiana once each in 1989 and 1962, respectively.

While AAP had contested the seat once in 2014, finishing runner-up, the BJP had supported the SAD under its previous alliance for nine times and had fought Ludhiana alone twice in 1996 and 1992 when it had ended third and second, respectively.

For the SAD also, it was not a good show as it came down runner-up in the past four elections to fourth spot this time.

Except Bittu, all other 42 contestants were, however, first-timers from Ludhiana this time.