Panthic politics back with Amritpal Singh, Beant Singh’s son

CHANDIGARH: The intense multi-cornered contest in 13 parliamentary constituencies in Punjab amid sweltering heat culminated in Congress winning seven constituencies, ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) three, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) one. Two independent candidates, including jailed pro-Khalistan Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh from Khadoor Sahib, also won.
Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassin Beant Singh’s son Sarabjit Singh Khalsa, is the second independent candidate who clinched the Faridkot (reserved) constituency on his main poll plank of seeking justice for the October 2015 Guru Granth Sahib desecration case at Bargari.The results of Khadoor Sahib, Faridkot and Sangrur constituencies highlights simmering discontent among Sikhs against traditional political parties.
Amritpal Singh, who contested as an independent, won the Khadoor Sahib seat by the highest margin in Punjab — over 1.97 lakh votes. Former chief minister and Congress candidate Charanjit Singh Channi won the Jalandhar (reserve) by over 1.75 lakh votes. However, Congress’s Sher Singh Ghubaya just managed to scrape through, beating AAP’s Jagdeep Singh Kaka Brar, by the lowest margin of 3,242 votes.
The SAD and the BJP contested this election without alliance for the first time since 1996. Though the BJP failed to retain its two existing seats of Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur, it succeeded in increasing its vote share to 18.56% against SAD’s 13.42%, which points to BJP’s consolidation of Hindu votes.
Out of seven sitting MPs who were renominated by their parties, only three—SAD’s Harsimrat, Congress’s Dr Amar Singh (Fateh garh Sahib), and Congress’s Gurjit Singh Aujla (Amritsar) —could save their seats. Con gress’s sitting MP from Anandpur Sahib, Manish Tewari, who was contesting from Chandigarh this time, was successful, but with a very slim margin.
A total of 12 MLAs, including five cabinet ministers of the AAP government, were in fray in the June 1 Lok Sabha elections. Of these, only one cabinet minister and Barnala MLA Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer could win his Sangrur constituency. Other than Meet Hayer, only two MLAs were successful—Congress’s Dera Baba Nanak legislator Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa (Gurdaspur) and Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal, who was elected to assembly on Congress ticket and now has won the Lok Sabha seat on AAP ticket.
Also, Vidhan Sabha speaker accepted the resignation of AAP’s Jalandhar West MLA Sheetal Angural, who joined BJP before the Lok Sabha polls.