Bathinda: Fourteen Punjab-origin candidates have been elected to the 44th British Columbia provincial assembly in Canada, matching the number of Punjab-origin MLAs in the outgoing house. The Conservative Party, which secured a majority in the provincial assembly after 98 years, accounted for 10 of these winners, while four were elected from the British Columbia New Democratic Party (BC NDP).
In the previous house, eight Punjab-origin MLAs belonged to the BC NDP and six to the BC Conservative Party.
Five Conservative Party candidates won from five constituencies in Surrey, while one candidate each from the Conservatives and the NDP won from two different constituencies in Vancouver. Surrey and Vancouver are the two most populous cities in British Columbia, with 10 and 12 seats, respectively, in the 93-member assembly. According to latest reports, the Conservatives won 64 seats, the NDP 27 and the Green Party two.
Raj Chouhan of the BC NDP won for a seventh term, while his party colleague Jagrup Brar, who was also seeking a seventh term, failed to retain his seat. Jimmy Sins, a former MP and two-time MLA from the BC NDP, also lost the election.
The Punjab-origin candidates contested on tickets of the BC NDP, Conservative Party, Centre BC and BC Green Party. The elections were held on Oct 24.
The polls were originally scheduled for Oct 2028, as the BC NDP govt led by Premier David Eby had completed two years of its four-year term. However, Eby recommended the dissolution of the assembly, leading to the announcement of snap elections.
Jagrup Brar, who hails from Deon village in Bathinda, and Raj Chouhan, originally from Gauhar village in Ludhiana, had both served six terms as MLAs. Jinny Sims, originally from Jalandhar, Punjab, was elected an MP in the 2011 federal elections and an MLA in 2017 and 2020. She lost from the Surrey-Panorama constituency.
Among the Punjab-origin winners, Rohini Reah Arora won from Burnaby East and Raj Chouhan from Burnaby-New Westminster as BC NDP candidates. Monica Mohan won from Delta North and Pavneet Singh from Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream as Conservative candidates.
Ravi Parmar won from Langford-Highlands as a BC NDP candidate, while Harman Bhangu won from Langley-Abbotsford and Jody Toor from Langley-Willowbrook as Conservatives. Toor defeated Anisha Sandhu of the Green Party.
In Surrey, Garry Purewal won from Surrey-Fleetwood, defeating Jagrup Brar of the BC NDP. Garry Thind won from Surrey-Guildford, defeating Garry Begg of the BC NDP. Harj Dhaliwal won from Surrey-Newton, defeating Jessi Sunner of the BC NDP and Harman Preet Singh of Centre BC. Mandeep Singh Dhaliwal won from Surrey North, defeating Sahib Thind of the BC NDP, Yudhbir Gill of the Green Party and Parm Bhandol of Centre BC. Jessy Sahota won from Surrey-Serpentine River, defeating Sikandar Kang of the BC NDP.
Deep Sandhu won from Vancouver-Fraserview as a Conservative candidate, defeating Aman Singh of the BC NDP, while Niki Sharma won from Vancouver-Hastings as a BC NDP candidate.
Surrey North had six candidates of Indian origin. Three candidates with Garry as their first name contested the election, with Conservative candidates Garry Purewal and Garry Thind emerging victorious.
