Punjabi-origin candidates in Canada suffered a big blow as only three out of about three dozen candidates in the fray recorded victories in 2018 Brampton elections on October 22.
A total of 128 candidates participated in the elections.
Linda Jeffrey, sitting Mayor of “Mini Punjab”, was defeated by the well-known Progressive Conservative Party (PCP) leader Patrick Brown.
Jeffrey was being supported by Sikh extremists.
However, a dental hygiene professional and social worker, Balbir Sohi grabbed the esteemed position of the Trustee of the Peel District School Board. In wards 9 and 10, Sohi polled 4,986 votes of the total 22,686.
In a Regional Councillor contest in wards 9 and 10, Vick Dhillon, a Brampton city councillor for eight years till 2014, was defeated by current Gurpreet Dhillon.
Gurpreet polled 14,330 votes in opposition to Vicky Dhillon’s 5,238.
For the Brampton City councillor, Harkirat Singh won the poll against his rival Michael Farquharson by 6,175 in wards 9 and 10.
Former minister Baljit Gosal, a lone Punjabi in the race for the mayoral post, polled 5,319 votes against Patric Brown’s 46,894 and rival Linda Jeffery’s 42,993.
A majority of Hindus, particularly from Gujarat were supporting Brown while a large mass of Sikh radicals had thrown weight behind Jeffery.
Bramptonians elected the Mayor, a Trustee for the Peel District School Board, five regional councillors (each representing two wards) and five city councillors (each representing two wards).
