EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
CHANDIGARH, March 2: Terming his victory as a victory of the people of Chandigarh, BJP's Satya Pal Jain said the verdict showed that the people of Chandigarh had endorsed the national sentiment of selecting Atal Behari Vajpayee as the prime minister.
Talking to Newsline after winning the Chandigarh seat for the second consecutive time, Jain said the people wanted a stable government at the Centre and they now felt that it was only the BJP and Vajpayee who could provide a stable government.
Jain also thanked the people of Chandigarh for reposing faith in him and the BJP-SAD alliance.
Asked to comment on the reduced margin this time, Jain said the BSP, which had polled about 10,000 votes in the last election, made the difference. "I have, however, increased my total tally of votes from 1.01 lakh last time to over 1.19 lakh this time." Jain had won by over 23,000 votes last time.
Incidentally, Jain is the second candidate after Jagan Nath Kaushal of the Congress to be re-elected in theconstituency.
An advocate by profession, Jain is considered a good orator. He started his political career at an early age by winning the election to the Panjab University Senate in 1976, which he continued to win till 1990.
He first contested the Lok Sabha seat from Chandigarh in 1991, which he lost to Bansal by a margin of about 15,000 votes. He later won in 1996 and repeated his performance now.
Jain claims that he has seldom lost an election and claimed that his 1991 loss was the only one which he could recall.
