Akali-BJP combine gains in Punjab, Cong in Haryana

The Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance is set to win the majority of Punjab's 13 parliamentary seats

The Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance was on Thursday set to win the majority of Punjab's 13 parliamentary seats while the Congress was headed to claim 9 of Haryana's 10 seats.

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Pawan Kumar Bansal (Congress) had amassed a lead of over 43,000 votes over Satya Pal Jain (BJP) in the lone seat of Chandigarh, the common capital of Punjab and Haryana.

Central Minister of State for Home ID Swami lost to Arvind Sharma of the Congress from Karnal in Haryana.

Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala's sons Ajay (Bhiwani) and Abhay (Kurukshetra) were headed for a defeat.

Industrialist Naveen Jindal was all set to bag the Kurukshetra seat while Bhiwani was expected to land in the Congress kitty.

Among the prominent Akali Dal-BJP winners in Punjab were central ministers Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa (Sangrur) and Vinod Khanna (Gurdaspur), Charanjit Singh Atwal (Phillaur) and cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu (Amritsar).

Khanna defeated old rival and five-time MP Sukhbans Kaur Bhinder by nearly 35,000 votes.

Punjab's ruling Congress retained the Patiala seat when Preneet Kaur, wife of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, defeated Kanwaljit Singh of the Akali Dal by over 22,000 votes.