AAP first-timer wins Gill seat with highest margin in district

Tribune News Service

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, March 23

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) first-timer Jiwan Singh Sangowal has scripted history by winning Gill Assembly constituency with a highest victory margin in Ludhiana district.

Sangowal, 58, who contested his second election after losing his maiden contest from this rural seat in 2017, trounced the sitting Congress MLA, Kuldeep Singh Vaid (Bulara), 61, by a margin of 58,910 votes. He polled 92,696 votes, which accounted for 50.33 per cent of total polled votes, while Bulara, a retired IAS officer, got only 33,786 votes, constituting 18.35 per cent vote share, to end third.

Former MLA Darshan Singh Shivalik, 66, of the SAD secured 35,052 votes, accounting for 19.03 per cent vote share, to finish runner-up. The remaining all eight other candidates in the poll fray, including Sucha Ram Ladhar, 63, another retired IAS officer, of the BJP, Balbir Singh Alamgir, 58, of the CPM, Gagandeep, alias Sunny Kainth, 33, of the Lok Insaaf Party (LIP), Rajeev Kumar Lovely, 54, of the Sanyukt Samaj Morcha (SSM), Jaswinder Singh, 47, of the Bahujan Mukti Party (BMP), Darshan Singh, 34, of the Aam Lok Party United (ALPU), Dr Brijesh Bangar, 45, of the Peoples Party of India (Democratic), and Independent candidate Rajinder Singh Singhpura, 61, lost their security deposits.

Know you MLA

Jiwan Singh Sangowal, 58, contested his maiden election on the AAP ticket from Gill Assembly seat in 2017, which he lost but ended runner-up by polling more votes than the then sitting SAD MLA Darshan Singh Shivalik.

A Matriculate Sangowal was associated with the AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal since the days of anti-corruption movement spearheaded by Anna Hazare. Being a founder member of the AAP in Punjab since 2014, Sangowal was a daily wage worker before he started working as deed writer in 1985. After joining the AAP, he stopped working as deed writer and started making aluminium and steel frames while working for the party in Gill segment.

“I sought votes on the promise of better civic amenities, education and health facilities as the people were fed up with the traditional parties,” the new MLA said, while vowing, “Providing better basic civic amenities and ramping up the education and health sectors top my agenda.”

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