Barring Amritpal’s Khadoor Sahib storm, Majha goes with Congress
Jailed radical preacher has registered the victory by a margin of 1,97,120 votes, the biggest across the state.
The Majha region saw the Congress candidates making it to the Lok Sabha, except in Khadoor Sahib where jailed Khalistani leader Amritpal Singh, chief of the Waris Punjab De outfit, bagged the victory with the highest margin of the state. Congress’ Gurjeet Singh Aujla secured a hat-trick in Amritsar whereas Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa conquered the BJP’s bastion of Gurdaspur.
Though it was the third consecutive win for Gurjeet Singh Aujla in Amritsar, he faced a good contest from AAP’s Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal and BJP’s Taranjit Singh Sandhu. Aujla’s victory margin was reduced from 99,626 votes in 2019 to 40,301 this time. He got 2,55,181 votes. Dhaliwal and Sandhu were close as they got 2,14,880 and 2,07,205 votes, respectively. Anil Joshi of the Shiromani Akali Dal stood fourth.
The Congress secured lead only in three assembly segments — Amritsar West (urban), Rajasansi and Attari (both rural). Dhaliwal secured lead only in Amritsar South and Ajnala assembly constituencies. The BJP performed well in the urban assembly segments, except Amritsar South which is Sikh-dominated, but not in rural segments. Its candidate Sandhu ensured lead in Amritsar East, Amritsar North and Amritsar Central. The SAD got lead only in Majitha, the hometurf of SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia. Here, Emaan Singh Mann of the SAD (Amritsar) got 26,796 votes.
In Khadoor Sahib, independent candidate Amritpal Singh, who is lodged in Assam’s Dibrugarh jail, toppled Congress’ Kulbir Singh Zira by a margin of 1,97,120 votes. Amritpal got 4,04,430 votes while Zira got 2,07,310. AAP candidate and minister Laljit Singh Bhullar stood third with 1,94,836 votes.
Pertinently, SAD’s Virsa Singh Valtoha could secure only 86,416 votes and stood fourth in the constituency that is predominantly a rural Sikh constituency and has remained the party’s traditional bastion. BJP candidate Manjit Singh Manna remained close to Valtoha with 86,373 votes.
Amritpal’s mother Balwinder Kaur, along with Paramjit Kaur Khalra, wife of slain human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, received the victory certificate from the returning officer. “This is a victory of Khalsa Panth for which the Sikh youths worked very hard. I hope Bhai Amritpal Singh is released soon and he raises the Panth’s voice in the Parliament,” said Tarsem Singh, father of Amritpal Singh.
Amritpal secured lead in almost all the assembly segments that fall in the Lok Sabha constituency.
In Gurdaspur, which has been conquered by the BJP five times in the last seven Lok Sabha elections, former Punjab deputy chief minister and senior Congress leader Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa defeated saffron party’s Dinesh Singh Babbu by 82,861 votes.
Randhawa got 3,64,043 votes while Babbu 2,81,182 votes. AAP’s candidate and Batala MLA Amansher Singh Sherry Kalsi stood third with 2,77,252 votes while SAD’s Daljit Singh Cheema could get only 85,500 votes, ranking fourth. Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) candidate Gurinder Singh Bajwa also got 25,765 votes.