The border state of Punjab is all set to cast its vote on June 1. The state is witnessing a four-cornered contest with major parties- AAP, Congress, BJP and SAD fighting on its own. Although with 13 Lok Sabha seats, the state’s contribution in the overall national tally is not significant, the state is expected to witness an interesting electoral fight with a major political churn on the anvil.
The Congress won eight of the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab in 2019, leaving the remaining five to the BJP, Shiromani Akali Dal and Aam Aadmi Party.
This is how the key contests are shaping up in the border state:
Patiala: Former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh’s wife Preneet Kaur who also joined the BJP will be contesting the elections from Patiala. Kaur represented the constituency for the Congress earlier. She is locked in a four-cornered contest with two doctors, and a realtor. While Dr Dharamvira Gandhi has been fielded by the Congress, Dr Balbir Singh has got an AAP ticket. SAD has chosen NK Sharma as its candidate for the seat.
Amritsar: The Bharatiya Janata Party fielded former Indian ambassador to the United States Taranjit Singh Sandhu from Punjab’s Amritsar for the Lok Sabha elections. In 2019, the BJP fielded Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri from Amritsar, the holiest city for the Sikh faith. But Puri lost by one lakh votes to Congress MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla. The party had failed similarly in 2014 to get stalwart Arun Jaitley elected from the seat.
Khadoor Sahib: The Lok Sabha constituency is probably the most keenly watched seat in Punjab, as it is from here that the pro-Khalistan preacher Amritpal Singh, who is currently lodged in Dibrugarh jail, Assam, under the National Security Act (NSA) is contesting in absentia as an independent candidate.
Chandigarh: In 2014, amid the Modi wave, actor Kirron Kher won for the BJP, ending Pawan Kumar Bansal’s four-term reign. Her association with Prime Minister Narendra Modi bolstered her electoral campaign, leading to a decisive win. She has maintained her stronghold, securing a comfortable victory margin of 46,970 votes.
Bhatinda: SAD's Harsimrat Kaur Badal is fielded from Bhatinda Lok sabha constituency. The constituency will witness a four way battle with Congress' candidate Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu, AAP's Gurmeet Singh Khudian and BJP's Parampal Kaur Sidhu. In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress had bagged the top spot and had won eight of 13 seats while BJP and SAD had won two seats each while AAP managed to secure only one seat.
Ludhiana A major industrial centre in Punjab, Ludhiana was used to contests between the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal. But in the last two elections, the runners-up to the Congress winner Ravneet Singh Bittu have been the Lok Insaaf Party and the Aam Aadmi Party. A former leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, Bittu is the grandson of Punjab's slain chief minister Beant Singh.
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