Chandigarh, June 4
The Congress dealt a body blow to the ruling AAP and the opposition BJP and SAD, winning seven of the 13 Lok Sabha seats in the high-stakes polls in Punjab even as two Independents, including jailed pro-Khalistan activist Amritpal Singh, registered a surprise victory.
While the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party clinched three seats, the Sukhbir Singh Badal-led Shiromani Akali Dal could win only one seat and the BJP drew a blank in the border state.
The Congress appeared to have bounced back in the state's political landscape after suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of the AAP in the 2022 Punjab Assembly polls.
The prominent winners in this election were Congress' Charanjit Singh Channi, Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, SAD candidate and three-time MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal, and AAP's Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer.
Besides, Amritpal Singh won the Khadoor Sahib seat, defeating Congress party's Kulbir Singh Zira by a margin of 1.97 lakh votes -- highest among the 13 seats in the state.
Another Independent candidate Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa, the son of one of the two assassins of former prime minister Indira Gandhi, registered a victory from the Faridkot seat.
Amritpal Singh is the chief of the 'Waris Punjab De' outfit and is currently lodged in Assam's Dibrugarh jail under the National Security Act.
Major upsets in the poll outcome included four-time MP and BJP candidate Preneet Kaur, BJP's Ravneet Singh Bittu, Sushil Rinku, Hans Raj Hans, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Anita Som Parkash, Parampal Kaur Sidhu, SAD (Amritsar) Simranjit Singh Mann, Congress party's Sukhpal Singh Khaira and SAD's Prem Singh Chandumajra, Daljit Singh Cheema.
Punjab this time saw a multi-cornered contest in all 13 Lok Sabha seats.
The INDIA bloc allies Congress and AAP contested separately while the BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal fought the Lok Sabha polls on their own for the first time since 1996.
Besides major political parties, Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) and the Bahujan Samaj Party had also fielded their candidates.
The election outcome came as a setback to the BJP which even failed to retain its traditional seats -- Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur.
The Shiromani Akali Dal could win only the Bathinda seat, though party candidate Harsimrat Kaur Badal improved the margin of victory as compared to the 2019 elections.
In 2019, the Congress bagged eight of the 13 Lok Sabha seats. The SAD and the BJP, then fighting as allies, won two seats each. The Aam Aadmi Party got just the Sangrur seat then.
Following the Sangrur and Jalandhar bypolls in 2022 and 2023, the Congress was left with seven seats while the SAD and BJP had two each and AAP and SAD (Amritsar) one each.
Since the counting began at 8 am, the Congress candidates in several seats maintained a lead though there was a close fight in the Ferozepur constituency.
Former Punjab chief minister and Congress candidate Charanjit Singh Channi defeated BJP's Sushil Rinku by a margin of 1.75 lakh votes from the Jalandhar reserve constituency.
SAD's Harsimrat Kaur Badal retained the Bathinda seat as she defeated AAP's Gurmeet Singh Khuddian by a margin of 49,656 votes while Congress party's Sukhjinder Randhawa dealt a blow to the BJP from Gurdaspur by trouncing its nominee Dinesh Babbu by over 82,000 votes.
Punjab Congress chief Warring defeated three-time MP and BJP candidate Bittu by a margin of 20,942 votes. Congress' Dharamvira Gandhi trounced four-time MP and BJP candidate Preneet Kaur from her pocket borough of Patiala.
One of the major highlights of the election was AAP's Gurmeet Singh Hayer wresting the Sangrur seat from SAD (Amritsar) candidate Simranjit Singh Mann by a margin of 1.72 lakh votes.
Congress candidate and sitting MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla retained the Amritsar seat by defeating AAP's Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal.
In Faridkot, Independent candidate Sarabjit Singh Khalsa defeated Punjabi actor and AAP candidate Karamjit Singh Anmol.
While the election was being seen as a litmus test for Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann who steered the AAP's poll campaign almost single-handedly, the stakes were also high for the Congress as it was eager to register a convincing win.
The election also posed a challenge for SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal who was looking to gain lost political ground in the state.
The vote share of the Congress was 26.30 per cent while the AAP's vote share was 26.02 per cent. The BJP and SAD's respective vote share were 18.56 per cent and 13.42 per cent.
19:44 04 Jun
19:18 04 Jun
Warring defeats Congress turncoat and three-time sitting MP Ravneet Singh Bittu of the BJP by over 20,942 votes.
AAP candidate Ashok Parashar Pappi trailed third with 2.36 lakh votes of the total 10.57 lakh polled votes.
19:07 04 Jun
He defeats AAP's Jagdeep Singh Kaka Brar
18:53 04 Jun
She defeats AAP's Gurmeet Singh Khuddian
18:15 04 Jun
16:11 04 Jun
Channi won by a margin of 1,75,993 votes, according to the ECI. He trounced the BJP's Sushil Rinku.
Channi polled 3.90 lakh votes as against his nearest rival Rinku, who secured 2.14 lakh votes.
Aam Aadmi Party nominee Pawan Kumar Tinu remained at the third spot with 2.08 lakh votes while Shiromani Akali Dal candidate Mohinder Singh Kaypee got 67,911 votes.
16:09 04 Jun
He defeated his nearest rival and Congress party's Sukhpal Singh Khaira, according to the Election Commission.
Hayer trounced Khaira by a margin of 1,72,560 votes.
16:06 04 Jun
He defeated AAP's Gurpreet Singh GP by a margin of 34,202 votes, according to the Election Commission.
Amar Singh, who is the sitting MP, polled 3,32,591 votes and Gurpreet Singh 2,98,389, EC data showed.
16:00 04 Jun
Dr Dharamvira Gandhi INC: 303772
Dr Balbir Singh AAP: 289274
Preneet Kaur BJP: 287377
INC leading by 14498 votes over AAP
10:35 04 Jun
Dr Dharamvira Gandhi INC: 15,5004
Preneet Kaur BJP: 14,7353
Dr Balbir Singh AAP: 14,3091
10:35 04 Jun
Meet Hayer AAP 132447
Simranjit Mann SAD-A 70950
Sukhpal Khaira Cong 62224
Arvind Khanna BJP 37399
Iqbal Jhundan SAD 25003
10:15 04 Jun
Harsimrat SAD-90058
Gurmeet Khuddian AAP-80082
Jeetmohinder INC -44217
Parampal BJP-27901
10:13 04 Jun
AAP Jagdeep Singh Kaka Brar 42968
Congress Sher Singh Ghubaya 47442
BJP Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi 40662
SAD Nardev Singh Bobby Maan 47393
10:11 04 Jun
Sarabjit Singh Khalsa, Independent 53943
Karamjit Singh Anmol of AAP 33457
Rajwinder Singh of SAD(B) 23416
Amarjit Kaur Sahoke of Congress 23286
Hans Raj Hans of BJP 13567
10:10 04 Jun
Congress Dr Amar Singh wins Fatehgarh Sahib seat by a margin of 33,000 votes over AAP's Gurpreet Singh GP candidate.
Geja Ram was BJP candidate, Bikramjit Khalsa, Akali Dal's and RJ Singh, SAD (A).
10:06 04 Jun
Congress Amrinder Singh Raja Warring leads with 25,152 votes
BJP's three-time sitting MP Ravneet Singh Bittu polled 1,43,835 votes
AAP candidate Ashok Parashar Pappi trailing third with 1,24,926 votes
10:02 04 Jun
Malvinder Singh Kang (AAP) 67947 (+2579)
Vijay Inder Singla (Cong) 65368
Subhash Sharma (BJP) 49224
Prem Singh Chandumajra (SAD) 24537
Jasvir Singh Garhi (BSP) 21548
09:49 04 Jun
Dr Rajkumar Chabbewal AAP 105051 Leading
Gomar Cong 95128
Anita BJP 56944
Thandal SAD 34517
Ranjit BSP 17588
09:22 04 Jun
INC Channi- 257914 lead by 102338
AAP Tinu - 137542
BJP Rinku - 155576
SAD Kaypee - 42795
BSP Balwinder - 38406
09:22 04 Jun
Amritpal Singh (Indipendent) : 72915
Kulbir Singh zira 40003 (Congress)
Laljeet Singh Bhullar (AAP): 35845
Virsa Singh Valtoha (SAD): 15847
09:06 04 Jun
Sukhjinder Randhawa (Congress) leads by 49000 votes.
07:59 04 Jun
Congress: Gurjit singh Aujla leads with 35000 votes
Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.
Most Read In 24 Hours
Don't Miss
View All
Top News
Reasi bus terror attack: NIA conducts searches at multiple locations in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri
Searches lead to seizure of various items showing linkages b...
Jay Shah announces Rs 125 crore prize money for Team India
Says this team has silenced critics
Fans will have to wait to welcome their heroes as Indian cricket team’s return home disrupted by hurricane
The Category 4 hurricane was about 570km east-southeast of B...
After Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja also retires from T20 Internationals
One of the world's finest fielders, Jadeja says he will cont...
After winning T20 World Cup, Rohit Sharma tastes soil of Kensington Oval pitch
In an era of content generation, the Indian captain provides...
