At Sukh Dhaliwal鈥檚 post-vote party in Surrey Monday night (Sept. 20), signs on banquet-hall tables urged supporters to remain seated throughout the evening, and that 鈥渕asks are mandatory while standing inside.鈥�
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 Newton鈥檚 Grand Taj hall on the night of Monday鈥檚 federal election.
B.C.鈥檚 current COVID-triggered gathering restrictions prohibit dancing during inside events, and that 鈥減articipants stay in the seat to which they are assigned, and do not move from seat to seat,鈥� among other rules.
On social media, some observers questioned Dhaliwal鈥檚 election-night gathering.
鈥淢askless indoors. Rules for thee, not for me,鈥� tweeted @JakeZTank.
鈥淵ou think Surrey was a covid transmission leader by accident? Hellll no!!鈥� added @UncleLaleet.
鈥� RELATED STORY: Dancing, celebration and selfies at Liberal Sukh Dhaliwal鈥檚 post-vote party.
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With hoarse voice, @sukhdhaliwal speaks to supporters earlier tonight in #SurreyNewton. pic.twitter.com/wYSsFaSgCm
鈥� Tom Zillich (@TomZillich) September 21, 2021
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.
鈥淭here 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,鈥� Dhaliwal told the Now-Leader.
鈥淧eople were seated and we tried to tell people, and there鈥檚 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.
鈥淚 can tell you that we made sure that we commanded people to wear masks and to tell them not to move around.
鈥淓vents like this,鈥� he added, 鈥渢hey always go out of control when there is a lot of excitement. We did our best with the security.鈥�
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A morning-after look at Surrey-Newton riding numbers, with @sukhdhaliwal in a comfortable lead and 164/165 polls reporting. The outstanding poll must be mail-in ballots, to come. #Elxn44 #ElectionCanada #SurreyBC @SurreyNowLeader
鈥� Tom Zillich (@TomZillich) September 21, 2021
story: https://t.co/IKMeL3ha5T pic.twitter.com/sR7OuUas8P
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 NDP鈥檚 Johal with 8,917 votes, followed by Conservative Mohsin (5,369), PPC鈥檚 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 doesn鈥檛 include those who registered on election day.
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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