Gurdaspur: Punjab's ruling Congress party candidate Sunil Jakhar on Sunday emerged victorious in the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha by-election by defeating his BJP rival Swaran Salaria by over 1 lakh votes after several rounds of counting.


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According to ANI, Sunil Jakhar won by a margin of over 1.93 lakh votes.


Jakhar's emphatic victory is a major reflection on the six-month-old Congress government’s popularity in the state. It has also dealt a severe blow to the BJP which was hoping to expand its influence in the region.


Reacting to the development, Jakhar said, ''People of Gurdaspur have sent a strong message of their resentment to policies pursued by Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre.''


His Congress colleague Navjot Sidhu said, ''This is a beautiful Diwali gift, packed with a red ribbon, for our would-be-party president Rahul Gandhi.''


Meanwhile, Congress leaders and workers had started celebrating the impending victory by bursting crackers and distributing sweets in Gurdaspur, Chandigarh and other places.



The seat was earlier held by the Bharatiya Janata Party, which had won it in the 2014 General Elections.


The seat fell vacant in April following the passing away of veteran actor Vinod Khanna, a four-time MP from the seat.


Jakhar remained in the lead from the beginning as the counting of votes polled in the October 11 bypoll began on earlier in the day.


Jakhar, who is the Punjab Congress President, maintained a huge lead over BJP`s Salaria while Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Maj Gen Suresh Kumar Khajuria (retd) was at the third spot.


Khajuria left a counting centre alleging that the voting was rigged by the Congress, which recently came to power in the state after sweeping the assembly polls.


The counting was conducted in centres in Gurdaspur and Pathankot towns.


There were 11 candidates in the fray.


Nearly 56 percent of the 15.22 lakh registered voters exercised their franchise for the seat.


The voter turnout was much lower than the over 70 percent polling in the 2014 General Elections.


With IANS inputs