Lok Sabha elections 2019: Congress will aim to wrest former bastion of Patiala back

The Congress had won 10 out of 16 Lok Sabha elections in Patila but the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Dharamvira Gandhi won the seat in the Lok Sabha election held in 2014.

The erstwhile princely state of Patiala in Punjab has been the Congress party’s stronghold for long. The Congress had won ten out of 16 Lok Sabha elections but the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Dharamvira Gandhi won the seat in the Lok Sabha election held in 2014.

Voter queue up to vote for Panchayat elections in Patiala. The Patiala Lok Sabha constituency will vote on May 19 to elect its member of Parliament. (HT file photo)

Dharamvira Gandhi shocked the Congress and its supporters when he defeated the three-time member of Parliament and former Union minister Preneet Kaur, the wife of chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, from Patiala.

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Dharamvira Gandhi was suspended from the AAP’s primary membership for anti-party activities. He has joined hands with another AAP rebel Sukhpal Singh Khaira and will be the candidate of the People’s Democratic Front, comprising rebel AAP leaders, Taksali Akalis and Bahujan Samaj Party.

Patiala will see polling on May 19 and the votes will be counted on May 23.

Here are some details about Patiala Lok Sabha seat:

Name of the Lok Sabha constituency: Patiala

Polling date: May 19

Sitting MP, party: Dharamvira Gandhi, AAP

Winning margin in 2014: 20,942

Runner up name, party: Preneet Kaur, Congress

Number of voters in 2014: 1,120,933

Percentage of votes polled in 2014: 70.93%

Number of women voters in 2014: 527,287

Number of polling booths in 2014: 1,772