The Indian election result has sparked joyous celebrations among Modi supporters across India while the opposition candidates and supporters would be understandably sad. But there’s one candidate in Punjab who’s perhaps the most heartbroken among all.
Neetu Shutteran Wala, an independent candidate from Jalandhar, broke down in tears on live television when the election results on Thursday revealed he had received only five votes at the polling booth where his own family cast their vote.
“I have nine voters in my family and only five polled in my favour,” he told a television reporter, alleging “dishonesty” in the election.
“They have manipulated the voting machines. All my neighbours swore in the name of goddess Chintpurni that they would vote for me,” an inconsolable Mr Shutteran Wala said. “I’m never going to contest election again.”
The Election Commission of India’s tally shows he actually got 856 votes out of a total 1,018,998 polled in the constituency. He can take consolation in the fact that there were three other independents in Jalandhar who polled fewer votes than him.
Mr Shutteran Wala may not have been able to make much difference in the electoral arena, but he is certainly being talked about a lot on social media with many users having fun at his expense.
Indian National Congress' Santokh Singh Chaudhary won the seat with a margin of over 19,000 over Shiromani Akali Dal's Charanjit Singh Atwal who got 366,221 votes.
