As the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Sushil Rinku is inching towards victory in the Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll on Saturday, Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal said his party "accept the mandate with humility".
Taking to Twitter, the SAD chief congratulated AAP candidate Sushil Kumar Rinku who is leading from the seat with a margin of more than 57,000 votes over his nearest rival and Congress nominee Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary, according to the latest trends of the Election Commission.
"We thank the voters of #Jalandhar and accept the mandate with humility in the true democratic traditions of our party. We congratulate the winner Sushil Kumar Rinku & @AamAadmiParty and hope that they will live up to the voters' expectations," Mr Badal tweeted.
In another tweet, he said, "I also thank all the leaders and workers of Shiromani Akali Dal - Bahujan Samaj Party combine for working hard and putting up a brave fight against all odds including the might of two governments, the Centre and the state."
Meanwhile, the local unit of the AAP burst crackers and distributed sweets in celebration after the latest trends.
Mr Rinku has so far polled 3,02,097 votes, while Ms Chaudhary has secured 2,43,450 votes.
BJP nominee Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal was at the third spot, while Shiromani Akali Dal candidate Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi, who is also backed by the Mayawati-led BSP, was at the fourth third spot, the trends of 1:40 pm showed.
Mr Atwal so far polled 1,34,706 votes and Mr Sukhi 1,58,354 votes.
The bypoll, voting for which was held on May 10, was necessitated following the death of Karamjit Kaur's husband and Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary on January 14 this year following a cardiac arrest while taking part in the party's Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Nineteen candidates contested the bypoll, which recorded a voter turnout of 54.70 per cent. The turnout was well below the 63.04 per cent recorded in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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