Congress wins Akali bastion Shahkot with margin of 38,802 votes

JALANDHAR: Congress candidate Hardev Singh ‘Laddi’ Sherowalia defeated Shiromani Akali Dal candidate Naib Singh Kohar with a margin of 38, 802 votes from Shahkot constituency – so far considered to be a Panthic seat. With this Congress tally in state assembly increases to 78, the two third figure – which Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh when he came to the constituency on May 10 to accompany Laddi to filehios nomination.
SAD, which had seen its worst performance ever in the last 50 years, is down from 15 to 14 seats in the assembly.However it does not impact its position in the assembly as it is not already recognized as the main opposition party in the state assembly.
With the victory Captain Amarinder Singh government has crossed its popularity test 15 months after coming to power while it already won Gurdaspur parliament election and municipal elections in 2017, within a year of forming the government.
SAD candidate Naib Singh Kohar’s father Ajit Singh Kohar had won all the five elections he contested from the seat since 1997. Election was necessitated due to his death. Apart from being a Panthic seat, the constituency also remained Kohars’ personal bastion. SAD to intended to gain from the sympathy factor but it did not work. Laddi had lost to Ajit Singh Kohar with margin of 4,905 votes in 2017 election when AAP also followed closely by getting over 40,000 votes. However this time AAP could just reach a lowly four digit mark.
SAD has lost even as party president Sukhbir Singh Badal and former minister Bikram Singh Majithia continuously campaigned in the constituency while CM came only twice - on the day of filing nomination and on the last day of campaigning. While Congress ministers, MLAs and other leaders did the vigorous campaigning it was largely designed by CM’s political secretary and PPCC general secretary (in-charge) Captain Sandeep Sandhu and Kapurthala MLA Rana Gurjit Singh. Laddi is a protégé of Rana.
SAD has been desperately looking for something to show that it has started gaining the lost ground after the humiliating defeat of 2017. SAD-BJP alliance has already badly lost Gurdaspur parliament by-election and later municipal elections.
The result also made it clear that the huge controversy created after a FIR was registered against Laddi Sherowalia by then Mehatpur SHO Parminder Singh Bajwa in the wee hours of May 4 after a complaint sent to Chief Electoral Officer was forwarded to him by his seniors. The controversy also embarrassed the police brass and state government and questions were raised that why was his name sent in the panel to CEO for appointments even as Congress MLA Rana Gurjit Singh had got him shifted from the constituency only some days before the controversy erupted. Bajwa was later diagnosed for Bipolar Disorder after he was arrested for allegedly assaulting an ASI of Punjab Police while entering district court complex on May 11.