:dateline:In the Dhuri bypoll result declared today, Gobind Singh Longowal of the�Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) has bagged landslide victory by defeating his main competitor Simar Pratap Singh Barnala of the Congress with a margin of 37, 051 votes. Jathedar Surjit Singh Kalabula of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amrisar) got third position.
Simar Pratap Barnala was polled 30,095 votes out of the total 1,10,951 whereas Longowal secured 67,596 votes. Remaining 10 candidates in the fray for the election lost their security deposits. Surjit Singh Kalabula got 7,554 votes, Sukhdev Sharma of the CPI bagged 1,933 votes and Jai Jawan Jai Kisan�s party candidate Manjit Kaur was polled only 203 votes.
Prior to this, the SAD (B) had swept bypolls to Moga and Talwandi Sabo seats while Congress retained Patiala seat. The bypoll to Dhuri seat, held on April 11, was necessitated after sitting Congress MLA Arvind Khanna resigned�from the seat in January this year. Khanna was close aide of Capt. Amarinder Singh.
With this triumph, the tally of SAD (B) in the 117-member Punjab Assembly has reached 59, one more than the figure required for an absolute majority, its ally BJP had 12 members, Congress 43 and the number of independents are three.
Dhuri Assembly seat registered 72 per cent incident free polling on April 11.
The poll to constituency witnessed a high stakes battle between the ruling SAD and the opposition Congress.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) did not participated in the crucial bypoll despite AAP MP Bhagwant Singh Mann garnering sizeable votes from this Assembly constituency, part of Sangrur Parliamentary seat during last year’s Lok Sabha polls.
