Ayali wrests Dakha seat, Akalis jubilant

Rajmeet Singh
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 24

By adding two more seats of Jalalabad and Phagwara to the party’s kitty, Capt Amarinder may have once again emerged as one of the party’s few regional satraps, but the party lost the perception game to Akalis in the Dakha Assembly segment.

Congress’ Mukerian nominee Indu Bala has been elected after the death of her husband Rajneesh Babbi, a Congress MLA.

The loss of CM’s Political Secretary Capt Sandeep Singh Sandhu by 14,672 votes to SAD’s Manpreet Ayali has left the Congress leadership pondering over the reasons behind the failure.

“How can the CM’s crisis manager, who played the key role in the by elections to Gurdaspur parliamentary seat (2017), Shahkot Assembly seat (2018) and Lok Sabha elections, lose in the bypoll that saw every top party leader, minister and MLA campaigning for him with money and muscle power at play,” pointed a senior party leader. Capt Sandhu said everyone worked hard. The anti-government agitation and Akalis managing a large vote bank in the debt-ridden area tilted the scales.

The Chief Minister said “I had wanted and aimed for winning all four seats in these bypolls but one can’t win cent per cent. The losing candidates should not take such failures to heart”, as he recalled that he had also lost his first two elections. The CM termed the party’s win in Sukhbir Badal’s self-proclaimed stronghold of Jalalabad as a rejection of the SAD’s “negative agenda.”

Party insiders point out that role of the insiders playing spoilsport and aggressive stand against Akalis proved counterproductive in Dakha. Alleged acts of aggression by Congress leaders was effectively captured and flashed by the social media team of SAD candidates, before the campaign strategists could realise the faux pass.

PPCC chief Sunil Jakhar said, “Despite the drug taint against the Akali and palpable anger against them, the Akali leader won. We need to introspect.”

Congress’ first timer Raminder Awla has won from Jalalabad that was claimed to be a SAD citadel.

Akalis on the other hand claim in the 12 elections held over the last 52 years, only thrice Congress has won from Dakha. The only exception was 2017 when AAP candidate HS Phoolka won.