Akalis Win Khadoor Sahib Byelection Easily

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KHADOOR SAHIB – Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) candidate Ravinder Singh Brahmpura won the Khadoor Sahib byelection, defeating his nearest rival Bhupinder Singh Bittu by a margin of 65,664 votes. Bittu, a Congress rebel, contested as an Independent. SAD’s tally in House is 60 now.

The NOTA (none of the above) option emerged as the third top choice of the voters. In all, 2,252 voters exercised this option against 548 during the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 — the first time when the EVMs with NOTA button were used in the state.

Former AAP convener Sumel Singh Sidhu, an Independent, managed only 2,243 votes. Of the 109,553 votes cast on February 13, Brahmpura got 83,080 while his nearest rival polled 17,416 votes.

As the Congress and AAP had not fielded their candidates, Ravinder Brahmpura regained control of the constituency that his father Ranjit Singh Brahmpura lost to Ramanjit Singh Sikki of the Congress in 2012 by a margin of 3,054 votes. Later, Brahmpura Senior got a lead of around 38,000 votes from this Assembly segment in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Ravinder Brahmpura, with tears running down his cheeks, attributed his victory to the “peace” and “development” agenda. He said he would repay the people of the constituency by ensuring its overall development. SAD supporters burst crackers and distributed sweets.