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Akali Dal wins Nurmahal by-election
WSN Network

Nurmahal: The ruling Akali Dal in Punjab rather easily won the Nurmahal Assembly seat, with Rajwinder Kaur, the widow of deceased Nurmahal MLA Gurdeep Singh Bhullar, defeating nearest rival Gurwinder Singh Atwal of Congress by a margin of 15,053 votes.

The byelection was necessitated by the death of Gurdeep Singh Bhullar in Chandigarh on December 24. Rajwinder Kaur polled 50,983 votes to G.S. Atwal’s 35,930 votes. Harbans Singh Uppal Bhupa of CPM got 3,356 votes and Hans Raj Pabwan of CPML polled 1,851 votes.

Sympathy for the deceased MLA played its part as a vote catcher for Rajwinder Kaur, borne out by the huge lead margin of 15,053 votes.

What went unsaid in the story of Nurmahal was a strange kind of logic that is increasingly find takers in the political class. It is to do with adjusting the family members of any deceased politician. CM Prakash Singh Badal has made it a near policy to give the ticket from any seat to the son or daughter or kin of anyone who dies. The political class is happy at this act but what it says about democratic norms is not being commented on.

17 June  2009
 

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