Chandigarh, May 13
The alliance of the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Bharatiya Janata Party in Punjab reversed the 1999 Lok Sabha verdict by winning 9 of the 13 seats at stake and establishing lead in two others, while the Congress has won only one seat and established lead in another.

The counting of votes in Ludhiana was delayed as repolling in three booths in Sahauli village was in progress today. In this constituency, Sharanjit Singh Dhillon of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) defeated Manish Tiwari of the Congress.

Union Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa (SAD) from Sangrur, cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Sidhu (BJP) from Amritsar, BJP state president Avinash Rai Khanna from Hoshiarpur, former Assembly Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal (SAD) from Phillaur (reserve) and Dr Rattan Singh Ajnala (SAD) from Tarn Taran have been declared elected.

The lone Congress winner is Rana Gurdit Singh from Jalandhar, who beat former Prime Minister I. K. Gujral's son Naresh Gujral by 21,000 votes. Ms Preneet Kaur, wife of Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has won from Patiala.

Actor-politician Vinod Khanna of the BJP has returned from Gurdaspur. He defeated his nearest rival, Sukhbans Kaur Bhinder of the Congress by 20,000 votes to retain the seat. Sukhdev Singh Libra of the SAD from Ropar (reserve), Paramjit Kaur Gulshan of the SAD from Bathinda (reserve), Sukhbir Singh Badal of the SAD from Faridkot and Zora Singh Mann of the SAD from Ferezepore have been among the winners.

The Congress-Left front had won nine seats and SAD-BJP combine three seats in 1999, while the remaining one seat was won by Simranjeet Singh Mann of the Akali Dal (Amritsar). Mr Mann today lost to Mr Dhindsa in Sangrur. — UNI