Punjab Elections: The Congress registered victory in two seats and leading in five constituencies seats in Punjab, while the Aam Aadmi Party won one seat and is ahead in two, according to the Election Commission of India.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) was leading in one parliamentary constituency while the two independents, including radical preacher Amritpal Singh, were also ahead.
Congress leader Charanjit Singh Channi won from the Jalandhar reserve parliamentary constituency after defeating BJP candidate Sushil Rinku.
Channi, the former Punjab chief minister, trounced the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Rinku by a margin of 1,75,993 votes, as per the EC website.
He polled 3.90 lakh votes against his nearest rival Rinku who secured 2.14 lakh votes.
Congress candidate Amar Singh won from the Fatehgarh Sahib reserve Lok Sabha seat after defeating AAP’s Gurpreet Singh GP, according to the EC.
Singh, who is the sitting MP, defeated the AAP nominee by a margin of 34,202 votes.
AAP candidate Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer won the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat after defeating Congress party’s Sukhpal Singh Khaira. Hayer trounced Khaira by a margin of 1,72,560 votes.
Hayer polled 3.64 lakh votes while Khaira secured 1.91 lakh votes. Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) candidate Simranjit Singh Mann got 1.87 lakh votes.
Congress candidates were leading from Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Patiala, Ferozepur and Ludhiana seats and the AAP was ahead in Hoshiarpur and Anandpur Sahib.
Congress’ Sukhjinder Randhawa, who is the former deputy chief minister of Punjab, was leading in Gurdaspur seat against his nearest rival BJP’s Dinesh Singh Babbu by a margin of 71,381votes.
Congress candidate Gurjeet Singh Aujla was leading in Amritsar against his nearest rival and AAP candidate Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal by a margin of 39,786 votes.
Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Congress nominee, was leading in Ludhiana by a margin of 28,283 votes against BJP’s Ravneet Singh Bittu.
Congress’ Sher Singh Ghubaya was ahead by 3,690 votes in Ferozepur seat against AAP’s Jagdeep Singh Kaka Brar.
Congress’ Dharamvira Gandhi was leading by 14,998 votes against AAP’s Balbir Singh in Patiala.
AAP’s Raj Kumar Chabbewal was leading in Hoshiarpur by a margin of 43,454 votes against Congress’s Yamini Gomar while AAP’s Malvinder Singh Kang was ahead in Anandpur Sahib seat by a margin of 11,263 votes against Congress’ Vijay Inder Singla.
SAD’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who is the three-time MP, is also leading in Bathinda seat by a margin of 50,577 votes against AAP’s Gurmeet Singh Khuddian.
Radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh, who contested as an independent, was leading from Khadoor Sahib seat against Congress party’s Kulbir Singh Zira by a margin of 1,62,068 votes.
Amritpal, the chief of the ‘Waris Punjab De’ outfit who is currently lodged in Assam’s Dibrugarh jail under the National Security Act, fought the election as an independent.
Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa, who contested as an independent, was leading in Faridkot against his nearest rival AAP’s Karamjit Singh Anmol by a margin of 69,371 votes.
Khalsa, the son of one of the two assassins of former prime minister Indira Gandhi, was also leading from Faridkot seat.
Counting of votes for the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab began at 8 am amid tight security arrangements.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress bagged eight of the 13 Lok Sabha seats. The SAD and the BJP, then fighting as allies, won two seats each.
The AAP got just the Sangrur seat then.
Following the Sangrur and Jalandhar bypolls in 2022 and 2023 respectively, the Congress was left with seven seats while the SAD and BJP have two each and AAP and SAD (Amritsar) one each.
