AAP's Harmeet Singh Sandhu wins Tarn Taran by-election with 12,091 vote margin

Tarn Taran (The Uttam Hindu): The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has retained its hold on the Tarn Taran assembly seat in Punjab's by-election. AAP candidate Harmeet Sandhu won by a resounding margin of 12,091 votes, receiving a total of 42,649 votes. With this victory, Harmeet Sandhu has been elected MLA for the fourth time. A formal announcement will be made by the administration shortly.

The main contest in this by-election was between the AAP and the Akali Dal. Shiromani Akali Dal candidate Sukhwinder Kaur Randhawa came in second, with 30,558 votes. Mandeep Singh Khalsa, a candidate from pro-Khalistan party Amritpal Singh's Akali Dal-Waris Punjab De, came in third with 19,420 votes.

The national party Congress performed dismally, finishing fourth with 15,078 votes. The BJP candidate failed to even reach 10,000, settling for 6,239 votes.

It's worth noting that this seat fell vacant due to the death of MLA Kashmir Singh Sohal, who won the 2022 assembly elections on an AAP ticket. Voting for this by-election took place on November 11, with a voter turnout of 60.95%. This was lower than the 2022 election (65.81%), but the AAP managed to retain its seat.