Punjab CM Channi loses both seats

In a major setback, chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi has lost the election from both seats that he contested -- Chamkaur Sahib in Rupnagar district and Bhadaur in Barnala. In Bhadaur, Channi lost to AAP candidate Labh Singh Ugoke. Ugoke, who contested the assembly polls for the first time, defeated Channi by a margin of 37,558 votes. He got 63,967 while Channi managed to get only 26,409 votes. Channi failed to win a single round of counting and the margin of victory was more than the votes polled by him.

Channi had decided to contest from two seats to consolidate the Dalit vote bank in the state. However, it backfired as the division of electioneering management on two seats also cost him dear at his home turf Chamkaur Sahib. At his home turf, Channi’s namesake and ophthalmologist Dr Charanjit Singh Channi defeated the chief minister. In Chamkaur Sahib, Channi lost by 7,942 votes. Here, out of the total 1,46,858 votes polled, Channi got 62,306, while the AAP candidate got 70,248 votes. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi  on Thursday conceded defeat in the Assembly elections held in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa, saying he "humbly accepts people's verdict."

Humbly accept the people’s verdict. Best wishes to those who have won the mandate.

My gratitude to all Congress workers and volunteers for their hard work and dedication.

We will learn from this and keep working for the interests of the people of India.

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 10, 2022

Party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also conceded the party defeat in all poll bound five states.  Addressing a press conference at the party's headquarters in Delhi, Congress General Secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the party may have lost elections but not its courage and will continue to fight till it emerges victorious. He also said that the Congress will reinvent and return with a new strategy and will always stand with the people, raising their issues, including inflation, unemployment and the "sinking" economy, with the same responsibility. In Punjab, the Congress leader said even though the party presented a humble, clean and grounded leadership, it failed to overcome the anti-incumbency of 4.5 yrs of Amarinder Singh government and people voted for change.