With Sangrur defeat, AAP loses Lok Sabha presence

With the Aam Aadmi Party losing Punjab's Sangrur Parliamentary constituency in the bypolls, it has now no member in the Lok Sabha.

With Sangrur defeat, AAP loses Lok Sabha presence
Source: IANS

New Delhi, June 26 (IANS) With the Aam Aadmi Party losing Punjab's Sangrur Parliamentary constituency in the bypolls, it has now no member in the Lok Sabha.

Gurmail Singh, who is the AAP's Sangrur district in-charge, lost the seat, a stronghold of now Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, to Shiromani Akali Dal-Amritsar candidate Simranjit Singh Mann by a margin of over 5,800 votes.

Simranjit Mann was last elected from the same seat in 1999.

The bypoll was held as Bhagwant Mann resigned after he was elected as an MLA in the March Assembly elections and became the Chief Minister. He had won Sangrur both in the 2014 and the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The contest was the first test of confidence for the AAP after the party's thumping victory in the Assembly election.

A total of 16 candidates had appeared for the contest on this seat. Congress candidate Dalvir Singh Goldy, BJP's Kewal Dhillon and the Akali Dal's Kamaldeep Kaur secured third, fourth and fifth positions, respectively.