Three big names of Punjab politics – Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, Congress boss in the state Navjot Singh Sidhu and former CM Captain Amarinder Singh are all trailing in their constituencies as votes are being counted to the key Assembly elections in the state. The Aam Aadmi Party is leading in all the seats contested by these heavyweights.
Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Sidhu is trailing from Amritsar East seat while AAP candidate Jeevanjyot Kaur is leading.
Chief Minister Channi is trailing from two constituencies he contested from - Chamkaur Sahib and Bhadaur.
AAP candidate (and CM namesake) Charanjit Singh is leading from Chamkaur Sahib, while the party's Labh Singh Ugoke is leading from Bhadaur seat. AAP is leading in 89 seats and is all set to have a landslide victory in the state.
Amarinder Singh, who founded his own party Punjab Lok Congress after his exit from the Congress, is trailing in Patiala Urban. Singh had joined hands with the BJP for the multi-cornered polls.
The two-time chief minister has been overtaken by Ajit Pal Singh Kohli, an AAP leader, according to early trends.
Channi, Sidhu and Captain were the centre of a divided Congress house months before the election. A massive and unprecedented revamp followed with Amarinder Singh’s sacking from the CM post and his unceremonious exit from the grand old party last year after a long drawn feud with Sidhu turned bitter. Channi was brought in as Singh’s replacement (making him Punjab’s first Dalit CM) and Sidhu was made party chief in the state. However, all was not well between Sidhu and Channi too with several reports of falling out of the two leaders making headlines.
The infighting in Congress possibly led to its poor show at the polls with the party leading in only 13 seats as the counting of votes continues for Punjab elections. The party has now slipped to number 2 in the 117-member Assembly.
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