The Assembly election results for the five states—Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa, Uttar Pradesh and Manipur—that were declared on Thursday left many “heavyweight” leaders “weightless” as they faced a resounding defeat from their own constituencies.
Some of these “heavyweight” candidates include the sitting Chief Ministers of Punjab and Uttarakhand. Punjab Chief Minister and Congress leader Charanjeet Singh Channi lost from both the seats he contested. Channi contested from Punjab’s Chamkaur Sahib, where he lost to the Aam Aadmi Party candidate Charanjit Singh, while the Chief Minister also lost from his second seat of Bhadaur to the AAP candidate.
In a surprising shock to the BJP in Uttarakhand where the party otherwise won for the second time, its sitting Chief Minister, Pushkar Singh Dhami lost from his seat in Khatima to the Congress candidate Bhuwan Chandra Kapri by around 7000 votes.
UP’s Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader, Keshav Prasad Maurya lost to Samajwadi Party candidate Dr Pallavi Patel by a little over 2000 votes. Maurya was contesting from his birthplace, the Sirathu constituency in UP’s Kaushambi district.
Not only this, even Congress’ Punjab State President and “heavyweight” candidate Navjot Singh Sidhu lost to the AAP candidate Jeevan Jyot Kaur by 8,200 votes. Sidhu was contesting from the Amritsar East constituency in Punjab and was also battling to be the Chief Minister of Punjab, just months ahead of the elections.
The Punjab election results also left many “heavyweight” leaders from the Akali Dal go back empty-handed for the first time. The Badals who considered themselves as “invincible” in their bastion in Punjab have been defeated by first-timers. The Akali Dal’s Bikram Singh Majithia, a close confidant of the Badal family in Punjab, was defeated by AAP’s Jeevan Jyot Kaur with a margin of more than 15,000 votes. The AAP also defeated four-time Chief Minister of Punjab and the patriarch of the Badal family and Akali Dal, the 92-year-old Prakash Singh Badal for the first time. Prakash Singh Badal lost to AAP’s Gurmeet Singh Khudian by over 12,000 votes.
The Akali’s second in command, Sukhbir Singh Badal also lost from the Jalalabad constituency in Punjab. The Junior Badal lost to the AAP candidate Jagdeep Kamboj by over 30,000 votes.
Punjab’s former Chief Minister and former Congress leader Amarinder Singh lost from this home turf. Amarinder Singh contested from his home constituency of Patiala and lost to AAP’s Ajit Pal Singh Kohli by over 20,000 votes.
Even former Congress Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Harish Rawat lost from this Lalkuan seat in Uttarakhand to BJP’s Dr Mohan Singh Bish by over 18,000 votes.
In Uttar Pradesh, the Congress’ state president Ajay Kumar Lallu lost to the BJP candidate Asim Kumar by over 78,000 votes from the Tamkhui Raj constituency. The BJP has won this seat after 30 years.
In Goa, Independent candidate and son of former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, Utpal Parrikar lost to the BJP candidate by around 700 votes from the Panaji seat. The BJP had denied ticket to Utpal and had handed over the ticket to BJP’s Atanasio Monserrate who won from the same seat after securing 6,787 votes.