‘P. Sarojini’
PUNJAB, India (CWBN)_ Punjabi-origin candidate Harwinder Sandhu won in the British Columbia assembly election. With her victory in the polls, the strength of Punjabi-origin candidates in the House has risen to nine. The New Democratic Party candidate won the Vernon-Monashee riding constituency following a delay in result due to the counting of mail-in ballots.
Sandhu is a former nurse by profession and a community activist as well. She defeated the three-time winning Liberal Party candidate Eric Foster by 424 votes in one of the biggest upsets in the British Columbia polls. With her victory, the British Columbia New Democratic Party won 57 seats out of 87 in the House. The nine Punjabi-origin candidates who won the elections belong to British Columbia New Democratic Party. Earlier, on October 24, the eight Punjabi-origin candidates of BC NDP party were declared winners.
Vernon Monashee riding was created in 1991 and then named as Okanagan Vernon. The constituency had never witnessed a BC NDP candidate winning in the last seven elections since 1991. The very first election in 1991 was won by Social Credit Party, and then the Liberal Party won the last six elections in a row, where their candidate Eric Foster continuously won the last three elections in 2009, 2013 and 2017. But, Sandhu from NDP with her current victory has put a break to the Liberal Party’s victory march.
After winning the polls, Harwinder Sandhu said she is looking forward to serve people on various issues such as healthcare, childcare, seniors care, etc., especially during this pandemic. She took to her social media account and wrote, “My work begins today, to keep BC moving forward while keeping people safe during this pandemic. I am looking forward to getting to work for people on issues revolving healthcare, seniors care, childcare, supporting our farmers, tourism industry and small businesses who are the backbone of our economy”.
Edited by Elishya Perera
