[Chd,Pb]SAD Lost Shahkot But Retained its Vote Share :Sukhbir
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today claimed it managed to retain its vote share in the Shahkot by-election to emerge as the principal Opposition.
In a statement the SAD president said the
SAD polled 43,944 votes against 46,913 votes it secured during the 2017 assembly election.
The ruling Congress wrested the Shahkot Assembly, with party candidate Hardev Singh Ladi defeating SAD’s Naib Singh Kohar by 38,802 votes.
Badal said in direct contrast AAP faced a total collapse in the by-election with the party barely polling 1.5 per cent of the vote share by polling 1,900 votes, only slightly more than the vote share under NOTA as well as that polled by SAD (Amritsar).
The SAD president said the Shahkot election was fought in trying circumstances with the Congress government “misusing” excise, sales tax, panchayat and electricity board officials besides the police force to intimidate voters.
He said despite this the SAD put up a good fight and there was a groundswell of support in its favour.
He said despite “mass scale irregularities”, the SAD accepted the verdict and would work tirelessly to ensure justice to the people.