Spotting Achille's heel helped Rana Gurjit

JALANDHAR: Congress candidate Rana Gurjit Singh defeated Akali Dal-BJP combine''s Naresh Gujral by a margin of 33,463 votes. This despite BSP''s Devidas Nahar taking away 69,188 precious votes from the Congress vote bank. Both the leading candidates polled a massive chunk of the 7,41,771 polled votes. Rana Gurjit got 3,44,619 while Naresh Gujral got 3,11,156 votes, making it a keenly contested seat, and one which saw many fluctuations in the counting drama that unfolded on Thursday.
Two factors are said to be decisive for Rana Gurjit Singh''s victory: the substantial reduction in the lead traditionally taken by the Akali Dal in their strongholds of Lohian and Sultanpur and the large lead taken by Rana Gurjit in the assembly segments of Avtar Henry (Jalandhar North) and Mohinder Singh Kaypee (Jalandhar South).
Put together the total lead taken in these two segments was 27,627. Henry and Kaypee worked hard to get their votes transferred. Knowing full well that Lohian and Sultanpur were the two weak points, he started nursing these segments right from day one to fulfil his dream of entering Parliament.
He controlled these segments through his Kapurthala office where his family, relatives and friends did all they could for the region. This paid him rich dividends in the form of narrowed down margins. Last time, the Akalis took a lead of 10,696 in Lohian. This time the lead was reduced to 3,252.
In Sultanpur, where SAD''s Dr Upinderjit Kaur could not help the peasants much, being out of power, the lead was 7,781 last time. This time it is a mere 1,339. In his home segment of Kapurthala, it was a record low lead of 250. Regarding the low lead, Rana Gurjit said: "Perhaps I have not been able to pay enough attention to people''s problems there. I will review my team''s policies and make amends."
In Kartarpur, the Congress could muster a lead of only 1,940. This is being attributed to the anti-incumbency factor in Kartarpur segment where Ch Jagjit Singh is being blamed for his inaccessibility. At Nakodar, the dismal performance is being attributed to the dent created by the Balbir Singh and the Kuldeep Singh Wadala factor. Balbir Singh who belongs to Shankar crossed over to the Akali Dal from the Congress as he was denied the party ticket.