JAIPUR: The Akali Dal (Mann) electoral venture into the Rajasthan border district of Sri Ganganagar and Bikaner flopped miserably.
The Dal candidates who had contested the Lok Sabha poll from Sriganganagar and Bikaner even failed to save their security deposit despite a sizeable Sikh population in these constituencies.
The political activity of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Mann), which had fielded candidates in Rajasthan for the first time in the recent Lok Sabha poll, was being viewed with considerable apprehension by the state security and intelligence agencies as well as the locals More so because there was a sudden spurt in killings in Sriganganagar which shares its border with Punjab on one side and with Pakistan on the other during the past few months.
The failure of the Akali Dal (Mann) candidate from Sriganganagar granthi Ajit Singh, to poll no more than 48,764 votes (0.45%) in a constituency where Sikhs constitute, nearly 20% of the electorate, indicate that the Dal propaganda failed to sway a majority of Sikhs in the constituency. The treatment meted out to the Dal Candidate from the electorate in Bikaner constituency is even worse where its nominee, Mahendra Singh, could poll a mere 29,402 votes (4.85%).
Article extracted from this publication >> June 28, 1991
