Bains brothers get stronger in second outing

LUDHIANA:Ludhiana-based Bains brothers remained electorally unassailable, winning the elections the second time in a row by a significant margin. While Balwinder Bains won by a margin of 30,917 votes from Ludhiana South constituency, his younger brother Simarjit Singh Bains defeated his nearest rival by 16,913 votes from Atam Nagar.

Both the brothers polled a total of 1.07 lakh votes, affirming their huge popularity amongst the masses.

Simarjeet, who contested from Atam Nagar constituency, polled 53,421 votes, while his elder brother Balwinder Bains bagged 53,955 votes from Ludhiana South constituency. The two brothers bettered their performance from the 2012 assembly polls that they fought as independents. In 2012, Balwinder had won 49,594 votes in all, while Simarjit had polled 51,063 votes.

The brothers, who floated the Lok Insaaf Party, had fought the polls in alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party and had fielded a total of five candidates from the Ludhiana district. However, the other three candidates lost.

The brothers, who are opposed to the Badals and have been projecting themselves as a formidable opposition by raising the bogey of “mafia raj”, have at times even overshadowed the main opposition in the state, both inside and outside the state assembly.

“The work that we have done in the last five years is for everyone to see. We vow to put an end to drug menace in the state and resolve the SYL issue,” said Simarjit after the victory today.

The brothers have set up ‘suvidha centres’ and are always ‘available’ to address public issues. Last year, they were physically thrown out of the assembly after creating a ruckus over an issue they had raised.

In 2014 they launched Team Insaaf, which now has a network in about 10 districts. The brothers say it has raised issues like sand mafia and costly treatment in private hospitals.