Accept the verdict, says Amarinder Singh after stunning defeat to AAP’s Kohli in Patiala
Having quit the Congress last year over differences of opinion with the party’s top leadership in Delhi, Capt Amarinder Singh floated his own party in the run-up to the polls --- the Punjab Lok Congress. For the two-time former Punjab CM, this was a crucial make or break assembly election, one that he needed to win.
Former Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh lost to his nearest rival Aam Aadmi Party candidate Ajitpal Singh Kohli by a huge margin of 19,697 votes in a stunning defeat from Patiala Urban. The two-time former CM managed to get just 28,007 votes compared to Kohli’s 47,704 as AAP swept the Punjab assembly elections with a thumping majority.
“I accept the verdict of the people with all humility. Punjabis have shown true spirit of Punjabiyat by rising and voting above sectarian and caste lines,” Capt Amarinder Singh tweeted soon after the results indicated a landslide victory for the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) nominee Harpal Juneja came in third with nearly 11,725 votes, while Congress candidate Vishnu Sharma ranked fourth with 9,795 votes.
In what was clearly a resounding victory for the Aam Aadmi Party, having bagged 88 of the 117 seats in the Punjab assembly, a number of political stalwarts from Punjab suffered a shock defeat. Several veteran politicians like Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal, former Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu all lost with huge margins.
Having quit the Congress last year over differences of opinion with the party’s top leadership in Delhi, Capt Amarinder Singh floated his own party in the run-up to the polls --- the Punjab Lok Congress. For the two-time former Punjab CM, this was a crucial make or break assembly election, one that he needed to win and one that would lend a direction to his political future in the state.
Capt Singh’s party --- the Punjab Lok Congress -- had entered into an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa led Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) for contesting the February 20 assembly polls in the state.
The scion of the erstwhile Patiala royal family has been a legislator from the Patiala seat in 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017 as a Congress candidate.