Punjab bypoll: BJP’s expansion plans take a hit
Its attempts to woo influential figures from other parties have failed to yield results in the Lok Sabha polls held earlier this year and again in Saturday’s bypoll results
The bypoll results have once again highlighted the challenges faced by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in establishing itself in Punjab’s political landscape.
Its attempts to woo influential figures from other parties have failed to yield results in the Lok Sabha polls held earlier this year and again in Saturday’s bypoll results.
The party not only failed to garner good votes in any of the four contested seats but lost its security deposits on three of them, raising serious questions about its strategy and grassroots presence.
BJP fielded prominent turncoats from rival parties in a bid to establish a foothold, however, the strategy seems to have backfired.
Former finance minister Manpreet Badal, who contested from Gidderbaha, managed to secure only 11,977 votes, losing his security deposit. Similarly, former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA Sohan Singh Thandal who contested from the Chabbewal reserved segment, garnered 8,692 votes and suffered the same fate. Thandal joined the BJP with just two days left for filing the nomination papers.
In the Dera Baba Nanak, BJP’s Ravi Karan Singh Kahlon, son of former speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon, could muster just 6,505 votes, falling well short of the required threshold to retain his deposit. The Barnala constituency provided the sole consolation for the BJP, where party candidate Kewal Singh Dhillon managed to save his deposit.
The party’s build-up to bypolls was far from ideal with the state unit chief Sunil Jakhar expressing unwillingness to continue at the helm and remaining absent from day-to-day party activities and meetings. Now as the saffron party braces for civic body polls scheduled in December end, it will have to redraw its plans.
Adding to the party’s woes is the drop in vote share in three of the four constituencies compared to the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year.
In Gidderbaha, for instance, Manpreet Badal’s tally of 12,227 votes was far below the 14,850 votes polled for BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate Gurmeet Rana Sodhi early this year.
In Dera Baba Nanak, the BJP’s vote count marginally increased from 5,981 in the Lok Sabha elections to 6,509 in the bypolls.
