The result of Gurdaspur Lok Sabha by-poll in Punjab has resulted in Indian National Congress victory with a huge margin of 1.9 Lakhs votes. Many analysts have already started claiming that the prime reason for the defeat of BJP is dissatisfaction with Modi’s government but this is absolutely fictitious. This election requires much deeper analysis to crack down the reasons for the result.

Absence of Popular face as Vinod Khanna:

Late actor Vinod Khanna was elected as the member of parliament of Lok Sabha from Gurdaspur four times and he also chaired few important ministries during Vajpayee rule, which made him a very popular figure in the constituency. His appealing and charismatic personality made the Gurdaspur constituency a strong foothold for BJP. It’s not an easy task to fill the void left by Vinod Khanna but Vinod Khanna’s wife Kavita Khanna as the candidate would have helped BJP with sympathy wave but BJP went with Swaran Salaria, which didn’t work for the party. Congress’s candidate, Sunil Kumar Jakhar was the leader of opposition in Punjab legislative assembly from 2012-2017 and the president of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, which made him as one of the most popular face in the state. BJP’s candidate, Swaran Salaria was a popular businessman in the constituency and also served earlier as chairman of the Punjab state commission for protection of child rights, but his popularity was no match for Sunil Kumar Jakhar. The absence of popular charismatic figure like Vinod Khanna is one of the important reason for the reduction in vote share of BJP, which ultimately led to their defeat.

Poor performance in recent assembly elections:

BJP’s defeat is more because of the poor image of its ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) than its own image in the state. BJP-SAD alliance faced a crushing defeat in Punjab assembly elections few months ago because of the dissatisfaction of people towards the SAD government and huge anti-incumbency. The result of Gurdaspur by-poll is reflection of this dissatisfaction towards SAD in previous assembly polls. To understand this better, let’s see how these parties performed in previous

assembly polls. Gurdaspur Lok Sabha constituency consists of nine assembly constituencies: Bhoa, Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Dinanagar, Qadian, Fathegarh Churian, Dera Baba Nanak, Sujanpur and Batala.