Punjab Chief Minister and Congress leader Charanjit Singh Channi has lost from both the seats that he contested – Chamkaur Sahib and Bhadaur in the state assembly elections.
“I humbly accept the verdict of the people of Punjab and Congratulate @AamAadmiPartyand their elected CM @BhagwantMann Ji for the victory. I hope they will deliver on the expections of people,” Channi said in a tweet.
I humbly accept the verdict of the people of Punjab and Congratulate @AamAadmiParty and their elected CM @BhagwantMann Ji for the victory. I hope they will deliver on the expections of people.
— Charanjit S Channi (@CHARANJITCHANNI) March 10, 2022
Channi got over 23,000 votes in the Bhadaur constituency. He lost against Aam Aadmi Party’s Labh Singh Ugoke who got over 57,000 votes. While in Chamkaur Sahib, Channi got 50,000 votes, while Aam Aadmi Party’s candidate who has a similar name – Charanjit Singh – got over 54,000 votes.
Channi replaced Captain Amarinder Singh on September 19, 2021, and became the first Dalit Chief Minister of Punjab. He was the 16th Chief Minister of the state. According to the official website of the Punjab Government, Channi remained Municipal Councilor for three terms and moved on to become the President of Municipal Council Kharar for a two-term.
He was elected to the Punjab Vidhan Sabha from Chamkaur Sahib Consistency for the first time in 2007. He was elected to the assembly seat again in 2012 and then in 2017. In 2015, Channi was elected as Leader of the Opposition in the 14th Punjab Vidhan Sabha.In 2017, he was appointed as the Cabinet Minister for Technical Education and Industrial Training, Employment Generation and also Science and Technology in the government of Punjab.
Channi was born on April 2, 1972, in village Makrona Kalan near Chamkaur Sahib to S. Harsa Singh and Ajmer Kaur. Since his father S. Harsa Singh was Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat of his village and later on a member of Block Samiti, Channi found the political grooming at home. He started participating in political activities in his school days and was also elected President of the School Student Union.
After his secondary education, he joined Sri Guru Gobind Singh College at Chandigarh for his higher education. After graduating therefrom, he joined Panjab University Chandigarh and successfully got his degree in Law. He later pursued his Master’s in Business Administration from PTU Jalandhar and currently finishing his PhD from the Panjab University Chandigarh. Channi, a great handball player and has many awards under his belt. He has also represented Panjab University three times in Handball and received Gold Medal in the Inter-University Sports Meet. He also continued playing Handball at the National level.
Meanwhile, Bhagwant Mann is set to take oath as Punjab’s Chief Minister at the birthplace of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh. The AAP is set to sweep the Punjab state, with initial trends in the day showing a surge of the Arvind Kejriwal-led party.
According to the Election Commission of India, the AAP has won 20 seats with leading on 71 others at 2:40 PM on the 117 seat Punjab assembly.
