Sunny Deol races ahead with 54% of vote share in Gurdaspur

Data from Election Commission

Sunny Deol is working wonders for the Bharatiya Janata Party by leading the charge in Gurdaspur. Even though BJP may be trailing in other parts of Punjab, Deol has a commanding lead over Sunil Jakhar in the constituency with 54% of the vote share.

The exit polls may have predicted a sweeping win for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s National Democratic Alliance (NDA) but, both the BJP and Congress candidates are confident about winning the polls in Punjab’s star-struck constituency — Gurdaspur.

BJP's usual candidate from the constituency was the Bollywood star Vinod Khanna, but this time around the party decided to run on the star power of Sunny Deol and his ‘2.5 kilo ka haath’ (2.5-kilogram hand).
Initial leads show Sunny in the lead with a margin of 32,187 vote share over Sunil Jakhar.

These are indicative leads and the final results will be shared by the Election Commission by the end of the day.

Deol’s up against the incumbent Congress candidate, Sunil Jakkar. He told the Tribune, “My fight was not against Deol. It was against the policies of PM Narendra Modi, which, as everybody knows, are dividing the country.”

But, Congress fight in the rural city of Gurdaspur is not immune to the rest of Punjab. The ‘anti-incumbency’ wave rising against Captain Amarinder Singh, who currently heads the Congress led state government could peter down to candidates fighting in the Lok Sabha Election.

Then again, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SDA) - BJP alliance also has its fair share of internal squabbles that could get in the way of its victory.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was also seen stretching its legs beyond Delhi to contest the elections in Punjab with Peter Masih are their candidate in Gurdaspur to field the Christian vote, which forms a considerable percentage of Gurdaspur’s vote bank.

According to exit polls, Congress is in the lead with eight seats to their name as SDA-BJP are only expected to win between three to five seats in the state.

The constituency’s starry past traces back to Dev Anand, a veteran Indian actor, who ran away from the village with dreams in his heart and not a penny to his name to become one of India’s biggest superstars.