Preneet wins but no victory celebrations - SAD candidate Juneja’s son dies after cardiac arrest
Tuesday, 26/08/2014
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140826/punjab.htm#7
Patiala : Congress candidate Preneet Kaur won the Patiala (Urban) seat, defeating her nearest rival Bhagwan Dass Juneja (SAD) with a comfortable margin of 23,282 votes. All other six candidates in the fray, including AAP’s Harjit Adaltiwala, lost their security deposit.
Preneet bagged 52,967 votes, the SAD-BJP candidate 29,685 votes and AAP’s Harjit Singh Adaltiwala 5,724 votes. The Congress decided not to celebrate the victory because of the death of Gurpal Juneja, SAD candidate’s son, late last night.
The Congress vote share increased from 43 per cent in the recent Lok Sabha poll to 59 per cent during the byelection. However, its vote share has shrunk when compared to the last three Assembly elections. While the party had got 74 per cent votes in 2002 Assembly elections, 65 per cent votes in 2007 and 69 per cent in 2012, its percentage had fallen to 43 per cent in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections because of the emergence of AAP, which had a vote share of 35 per cent. But within months, AAP’s vote share has dived to 6 per cent. On the other hand, the SAD-BJP alliance has succeeded in more than doubling its vote share.
Preneet Kaur said attributed her victory to the people’s faith in her and her family. “The victory is the result of collective hard work by all leaders and workers who worked round the clock,” she said.
To a query, she said she would have the parliamentary elections if her husband, Capt Amarinder Singh, had been able to campaign for her then. “This election has exploded the myths about the Aam Aadmi Party. The people have understood that AAP has neither any agenda nor any programme, except for spreading anarchy”.
She claimed that the people were losing faith in the Akalis, notwithstanding the Talwandi Sabo result. “Everybody knows what they did there. AAP too has been decimated,” she remarked.
How they fared
Preneet Kaur (Congress): 52,967
Bhagwan Dass Juneja (SAD-BJP): 29,685
HS Adaltiwala (AAP): 5,724
Vote percentage (tentative)
Elections Congress SAD-BJP AAP
2014 (Bypoll) 59% 33% 6%
2014 Lok Sabha 43% 16% 33%
2012 Assembly 69% 24% NA
2007 Assembly 65% 30% NA
2002 Assembly 74% 20% NA
1997 Assembly 36% 53% NA
