Chandigarh: Ruling SAD on Tuesday won the bypoll to Khadoor Sahib Assembly seat, with party candidate Ravinder Singh Brahmpura defeating his nearest rival Independent candidate Bhupinder Singh by a margin of 65,664 votes.
Main opposition parties Congress and Aam Aadmi Party had stayed out of the contest.
Brahmpura defeated Bhupinder Singh, who had broken away from the Congress and entered the fray as an Independent. Punjab's Chief Electoral Officer V K Singh said that at the end of 15 rounds of counting, Brahmpura had polled 83,080 votes as against 17,416 in favour of Bhupinder. "Ravinder Brahmpura has won by 65664 votes," he said.
Another Independent candidate Sumel Singh Sidhu could only poll 2,243 votes. He had parted ways with AAP to contest the poll.
The bypoll was held as the seat fell vacant after Congress MLA Ramanjit Singh Sikki resigned in protest against sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib in 2015.
Congress had "boycotted" the polls, saying the issue on which Sikki had resigned was still unresolved.
There were seven contestants in the fray but among the main political parties, only Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) had put up his candidate.
Besides, Ravinder Singh Brahampura, son of Akali stalwart, Ranjit Singh Brahampura, the six others who had entered the fray were Puran Singh of BSP (Ambedkar) and Independents - Sumel Singh Sidhu (AAP rebel), Bhupinder Singh Bittu (Congress rebel), Sukhdev Singh, Harjit Singh and Anantjit Singh Sandhu.
Punjab's Deputy Chief Minister and SAD President Sukhbir Badal during his campaigning on this assembly seat had slammed both Congress and AAP for "running away" from the contest as "both parties are scared of losing".
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