Punjab LS result: Channi wins Jalandhar with record margin of 1.75 lakh votes
Former CM polled 3,90,053 votes to defeat BJP’s Sushil Kumar Rinku, who got 2,14,060 votes; becomes Jalandhar MP to win with the highest margin
Former chief minister and Congress candidate Charanjit Singh Channi won the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat by a thumping margin of 1,75,993 votes, the highest in the state.
Channi polled 3,90,053 votes, while BJP candidate Sushil Kumar Rinku got 2,14,060 votes. Pawan Kumar Tinu, the Aam Aadmi Party who won the 2023 Jalandhar Lok Sabha byelection, got 2,08,889 votes. The candidates of the Shiromani Akali Dal and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Mohinder Singh Kaypee and Balwinder Kumar forfeited their security deposits as they polled 67,911 and 64,941 votes, respectively.
With Channi’s victory, the Congress has reclaimed its bastion that it had lost to the AAP during last year’s byelection.
Channi, who was the first Dalit CM of Punjab, won with the highest margin in Jalandhar’s parliamentary seat’s electoral history. Former Prime Minister IK Gujral had won by 1,31,016 votes in 1998.
Of the nine assembly segments in Jalandhar constituency, the Congress maintained a lead in seven segments of Phillaur, Nakodar, Shahkot, Jalandhar cantonment, Adampur and Jalandhar West, while two segments, namely Jalandhar Central and Jalandhar North went to the BJP’s kitty.
“I’m thankful to the people of Jalandhar as I came here as Sudama two months ago and they showered me with blessings like Krishna,” said Channi after receiving his winning certificate.
He said that his opponents had played all the tricks in the book to defame him, but the people of Jalandhar had given them a befitting reply. “I remained CM for 111 days and my victory stands testimony to the good work done during my tenure. The Channi wave exists even after two years. People have rejected the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government and have given a ‘fatwa’ against it because it has done nothing besides offering lip service in the past two years,” Channi added.
