Navjot Singh Sidhu, the frontrunner for Congress’ Chief Ministerial face in the upcoming Punjab assembly elections, took a chunk of votes in Aam Aadmi Party’s ‘Janta Chunegi Apna CM’ initiative. 

About 3% of the votes were taken away by Sidhu, Aam Aadmi Party’s chief Arvind Kejriwal said in a brief event on Tuesday. Sidhu, 58, is contesting the upcoming elections from the Amritsar East constituency.

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Kejriwal’s address on Tuesday was scheduled to reveal Aam Aadmi Party’s chief ministerial candidate for Punjab elections, where Bhagwant Mann took the top spot and secured more than 93% of the votes.

The Delhi chief minister further added that some people also voted for him, however, those entries were rendered “invalid” as he was never in the race. More than 21,00,000 votes were registered through the televoting initiative, which was announced earlier this month.

“It is clear that AAP will win the Punjab election. In a way, the person chosen as the Chief Ministerial candidate will be the next Chief Minister of Punjab,” Kejriwal said before announcing the candidate on Tuesday in Mohali.

A day before the announcement, Sidhu — the President of Punjab Pradesh’s Congress Committee– called Kejriwal a “migratory bird”, while citing his busy travel schedule. He added that after the elections are wrapped up, Kejriwal would return to the national capital.

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“It is a drama to befool Bhagwant Mann. I have deep respect for my old friend Mann who calls me guru. Kejriwal in Delhi did not seek such public’s advice and wasted no time to sit on the chair of the CM”, Sidhu said in a statement on Monday.

The Election Commission of India rescheduled Punjab’s assembly elections to February 20, 2022. The polls were earlier set for February 14 but were moved further in light of Guru Ravidas Jayanti. The counting of votes and the results are scheduled for March 10.