Chandigarh, Nov 14 (IANS) Ahead of the 2027 Punjab Assembly polls, Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) candidate Harmeet Singh Sandhu on Friday retained the Tarn Taran Assembly seat, defeating his nearest rival, Sukhwinder Kaur of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), who was leading in the initial rounds of counting, by more than 12,000 votes.

This bypoll was seen as a crucial test for Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and the AAP that had won five of the six bypolls held in the state since it came to power in March 2022.

Independent candidate Mandeep Singh Khalsa, backed by hardline Sikh groups and jailed MP Amritpal Singh’s faction, was in the third spot, while Congress’ Karanbir Singh Burj was at the fourth.

AAP’s Sandhu leads got a total of 42,649 votes, holding a margin of 12,091 votes.

SAD’s Kaur was in second place with 30,558 votes, followed by Khalsa at 19,620 votes, Congress’ Karanbir Singh at 15,078 votes, and BJP’s Harjit Singh Sandhu at 6,239 votes.

Responding to his party retaining the seat, state AAP Chief and Minister Aman Arora told the media here, “This victory is recognition of the work done by the Bhagwant Mann government in Punjab. We presented our work to the people, they accepted it, and gave us great respect. Heartfelt thanks to everyone.”

Expressing gratitude to the people of Tarn Taran who reposed faith in the Shiromani Akali Dal in huge numbers despite threats, registration of false cases and illegal detentions at the instance of the Aam Aadmi Party, party’s Member of Parliament Harsimrat Kaur Badal wrote on X, “A clear message has been sent today that the people are in favour of their own regional party and once free and fair elections are held in 2027 they will show the door to the Aam Aadmi Party.”

The November 11 bypoll, which was necessitated after the seat fell vacant due to the demise of AAP MLA Kashmir Singh Sohal in June, saw a voter turnout of 60.95 per cent.

A total of 15 candidates were in the fray.

–IANS

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