Sukhbir Singh Badal & Parkash Singh Badal lose by huge margins in big setback for SAD

As the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has taken a clean sweep in Punjab by leading with a majority of 91 seats in the 170 Assembly constituencies, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) along with other key political parties have been left way behind.

While Akali Dal leader Sukhbir Singh Badal has lost the elections by a margin of 23,310 votes in the Jalalabad constituency to AAP's Aadmi Party's Jagdeep Kamboj, another key SAD leader Parkash Singh Badal has also lost the Lambi constituency by a margin of 11,357 votes against Aam Aadmi Party's AP’s Gurmeet Singh Khudian.

As AAP's chief ministerial candidate Bhagwant Mann is all set to become the next chief minister of Punjab, SAD leader Sukhbir Singh Badal has also accepted the mandate of the people of Punjab. Taking to Koo, he accepted the decision taken by the people of Punjab and further expressed his gratefulness to lakhs of people who have placed their trust in the party and on the SAD-BSP alliance.

Further vowing to serve the people with humility, the Akali Dal president also congratulated the Aam Aadmi Party and its leader Bhagwant Mann on their victory in the Punjab polls. 

On the other hand, a SAD head-honcho and the five-time former Punjab CM, Parkash Singh Badal who was seeking re-election from his home ground Lambi was trailing since the early trends came in and was later unable to recover from the losses in the electoral battle. 

AAP wins big in Punjab

In a surprise for all, the debutant Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday registered a major lead in the multi-cornered fight in Punjab defeating some of the key political parties including the ruling Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal, BJP in alliance with Captain Amarinder Singh-led Punjab Lok Congress. As of 3:15 PM, AAP had won 34 seats and was leading on 57 seats. 

While the exit polls had earlier predicted a win for AAP, stakes were high for the Akali Dal as well which contested the polls in alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party. Meanwhile, as the vote-counting is still underway, more than 50,000 officials have deployed at duty across the five states. 

Image: Facebook/@SukhbirSinghBadal/@WeSupportParkashSinghBadal