At Sukh Dhaliwalѻýs post-vote party in Surrey Monday night (Sept. 20), signs on banquet-hall tables urged supporters to remain seated throughout the evening, and that ѻýmasks are mandatory while standing inside.ѻý
By the time the Liberal incumbent was declared winner in the Surrey-Newton riding, however, those pandemic protocols were ignored by many in the crowd of a few hundred excited people, who danced, celebrated and took selfies with the MP-elect.
Video shows the party happening inside Newtonѻýs Grand Taj hall on the night of Mondayѻýs federal election.
prohibit dancing during inside events, and that ѻýparticipants stay in the seat to which they are assigned, and do not move from seat to seat,ѻý among other rules.
On social media, some observers questioned Dhaliwalѻýs election-night gathering.
ѻýMaskless indoors. Rules for thee, not for me,ѻý tweeted .
ѻýYou think Surrey was a covid transmission leader by accident? Hellll no!!ѻý added .
ѻý RELATED STORY: .
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With hoarse voice, speaks to supporters earlier tonight in .
ѻý Tom Zillich (@TomZillich)
Dhaliwal wore a Liberal-red mask while greeting supporters, and only removed the face covering to speak at the podium in a voice made hoarse during the election campaign.
Reached Tuesday (Sept. 21), Dhaliwal said event organizers did their best to control the crowd.
ѻýThere were many security guards who made sure the numbers were OK and that nobody was allowed in the hall beyond the limit of the hall, and the vaccination was also verified to make sure people had that,ѻý Dhaliwal told the Now-Leader.
ѻýPeople were seated and we tried to tell people, and thereѻýs only so much control you can do. As you know, a lot of people wanted to come to support, so we had a tent outside with a TV there, and not everyone could get inside.
ѻýI can tell you that we made sure that we commanded people to wear masks and to tell them not to move around.
ѻýEvents like this,ѻý he added, ѻýthey always go out of control when there is a lot of excitement. We did our best with the security.ѻý
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A morning-after look at Surrey-Newton riding numbers, with in a comfortable lead and 164/165 polls reporting. The outstanding poll must be mail-in ballots, to come.
ѻý Tom Zillich (@TomZillich)
story:
The projected election win gives Dhaliwal a third consecutive term in Surrey-Newton. A professional engineer by trade, he served as Liberal MP of its predecessor, the riding of Newton-North Delta, from 2006 to 2011.
As of Tuesday morning, 164 of 165 polls report Dhaliwal in the lead with 18,488 votes, or 54 per cent. His closest challenger was the NDPѻýs Johal with 8,917 votes, followed by Conservative Mohsin (5,369), PPCѻýs Singh (927) and Hundal (600).
Voter turnout in the riding is 52 per cent, or 34,301 of the 65,857 registered electors, a number that doesnѻýt include those who registered on election day.
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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