Parkash Singh Badal, a senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and former Punjab chief minister, lost his long-established Lambi seat to Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Gurmeet Singh Khudian by over 11,000 votes, according to the Election Commission of India’s website.
Counting for Punjab Assembly elections began on March 10 and is still going on. Parkash Badal, the 94-year-old SAD patriarch and the oldest contender in the Punjab election, had already won the seat for five terms. Badal is a five-term chief minister of Punjab and an 11-time MLA.
According to the Indian Election Commission, Badal received 54,360 votes, while the winner, AAP’s Khudian, received 65,717 votes.
The AAP is on track for a stunning victory in Punjab, where it was ahead by at least 92 seats to the Congress’s 18 seats in the 117-member legislature. According to current trends, SAD and its coalition ally BSP will not be able to win more than four seats.
Since 1997, Badal has won all five state elections he has run from Lambi. In 1997, he defeated Gurnam Singh Abul Khurana by the largest margin of victory, 28,728 votes. In 2007, the lowest victory margin of 9,187 was recorded.
Lambi was one of the SAD’s 15 seats won in 2017 when Badal defeated Amarinder Singh of the Congress by a margin of 22,770 votes. Badal beat Maheshinder Singh Badal of the Congress by 24,739 votes in 2012.
