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Caste factor worked for Cong in SAD bastion

The consolidation of Hindu and Khatri votes in favour of the Congress led to the party snatching the Jalalabad Assembly seat.
In fact, the party’s decision to field fresh faces from Phagwara, Jalalabad and Mukerian, worked in favour of the party that has been able to register win on the three seats.
As SAD leader Sukhbir Badal made inroads into Jalalabad in 2009, and won two subsequent elections in 2012 and 2017, the Congress kept on losing due to the wrong choice of candidates.
The last time the Congress won from the seat was 17 years ago, when Hans Raj Joshan won from the constituency.

The Rai Sikh votes got divided among the Akalis, Congress and AAP candidates, a major chunk of the Hindu and Khatri Arora vote bank that otherwise went to the SAD.
SAD leaders deny that the party didn’t work hard in the constituency.

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