Wrong choice of candidates cost Congress dear on 4 Punjab seats

Rajmeet Singh

Chandigarh, June 9

The wrong choice of candidates or unavailability of suitable candidates after a series of defections is the main reason for the Congress defeat on four seats — Anandpur Sahib, Hoshiarpur, Sangrur and Faridkot.

On the Faridkot seat, the security of party candidate Amarjit Kaur Sahoke was forfeited. A political turncoat, she could get only 15.8 per cent vote share and came third. The seat has been won by Sarbjeet Singh Khalsa, son of Indira Gandhi assassin. His nearest rival AAP’s Karamjit Anmol came second by securing 25 per cent vote share.

Attributing Sahoke’s poor performance to the wrong choice of candidate, a key functionary of the Congress said against independent candidate Sarabjeet Khalsa and actor Anmol, the party could have fielded a seasoned leader like former Jandiala MLA Sukhwinder Singh Danny.

Similarly in Sangrur, Sukhpal Khaira was on the second position with 19 per cent vote share which was the result of division of Panthic votes between Khaira and SAD (Amritsar) candidate Simranjeet Singh Mann, who came third by securing 18.5 per cent vote share. This further benefited AAP candidate Meet Hayer.

In case of Anandpur Sahib, the division of Hindu votes between Congress candidate Vijay Inder Singla and BJP candidate Dr Subash Sharma benefited AAP candidate Malwinder Singh Kang, who won by securing 29 per cent votes. Singla got 28.1 per cent vote share. “Putting up a Jat face would have given advantage to the Congress”, said a senior leader.

Analysing the reasons in case of Hoshiarpur, a senior PPCC member said after Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal defected, the party had no option but to field Yamini Gomar. The party could have fielded senior leader Mohinder Singh Kaypee, who later defected to AAP and lost the Jalandhar seat against former CM Charanjit Singh Channi.