Veteran Ex-MP Dhaliwal Crushes Newcomer Sarai By More Than 2300 Votes!
With Sukh Dhaliwal winning so big and even though its only a nomination, the membership sign-up of 22,000 and the actual turnout of over 6800 people for a nomination fight doesn’t bode well for the current riding MP, the NDP’s Jinny (Jogindro Kaur) Sims, who won a tight battle last time. But Sims has lost some of her support in the riding and the Liberal leader Justin Trudeau factor is expected to give Dhaliwal and other Liberal candidates, like newly acclaimed Harj Sajjan in Vancouver-South, a real boost in winnable ridings and especially those previously held by the Liberals.
By R. Paul Dhillon
SURREY – It was a carnival atmosphere last Saturday in the Surrey-Newton area with constant stream of voters lining up to vote at the federal Liberal nomination for Surrey-Newton at the Tamwanis Secondary school.
While there was much talk about the contest between the wily veteran ex-MP Sukh Dhaliwal and lawyer Randeep Sarai would be close one after both camps spent over $100,000 in membership sign-up costs but when it was all said and done, it was a no contest as Dhaliwal, who has never lost a nomination, won easily, crushing the upstart Sarai by more than 2300 votes.
With Dhaliwal winning so big and even though its only a nomination, the membership sign-up of 22,000 and the actual turnout of over 6800 people for a nomination fight doesn’t bode well for the current riding MP, the NDP’s Jinny (Jogindro Kaur) Sims, who won a tight battle last time.
But Sims has lost some of her support in the riding and the Liberal leader Justin Trudeau factor is expected to give Dhaliwal and other Liberal candidates, like newly acclaimed Harj Sajjan in Vancouver-South, a real boost in winnable ridings and especially those previously held by the Liberals.
It was billed as the mother of nomination battles and it didn’t disappoint. The praiseworthy thing was that it was conducted without an incident and the vote counting and the decision went off without a hitch, which is a tribute to the large Indo-Canadian Liberals in the riding.
Ultimately, the much hyped Sarai, who took some personal shots at Dhaliwal for his tax troubles while ignoring his disbarment for conduct unbecoming a lawyer, really didn’t have what it takes to win. Not against the man known as the Kingmaker in Surrey!
The LINK , which was the only local newspaper to predict a Dhaliwal win given his track record of winning big fights, reported that forces from near and far have teamed up against Dhaliwal, including from India and those from his opponents across the political spectrum locally, to make sure that he doesn’t win the nomination for the riding.
“Dhaliwal has been a king-maker in Surrey and he has fought in a number of nomination Battle Royals, winning each one. And if history is any indication, Dhaliwal is expected to win the nomination again next Saturday but it should be hard fought and close,” the LINK wrote.
Let’s see who the Conservatives put up but it’s gonna be battle between Liberal and NDP unless the Conservatives bring in former MP Gurmant Grewal.
The next federal election is expected in October, 2015, but most likely will be earlier (some predict coming spring) as the Conservatives feel they have momentum.
The next election will be Dhaliwal’s fourth attempt at winning the Newton-North Delta seat. And it may go something like it did last Saturday night!
