Punjab: Parliamentary elections
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Contents |
2014: the victorious candidates
Punjab 2014
S.No. |
Costituency |
Name Of Member |
Party |
1 |
Amritsar |
Captain Amarinder Singh |
INC |
2 |
Anandpur Sahib |
Prem Singh Chandumajra |
SAD |
3 |
Bathinda |
Harsimrat Kaur Badal |
SAD |
4 |
Faridkot |
Prof. Sadhu Singh |
AAP |
5 |
Fatehgarh Sahib |
Harinder Singh Khalsa |
AAP |
6 |
Ferozpur |
Sher Singh Ghubaya |
SAD |
7 |
Gurdaspur |
Vinod Khanna |
BJP |
8 |
Hoshiarpur |
Vijay Sampla |
BJP |
9 |
Jalandhar |
Santokh Singh Chaudhary |
INC |
10 |
Khadoor Sahib |
Ranjit Singh Brahmpura |
SAD |
11 |
Ludhiana |
Ravneet Singh Bittu |
INC |
12 |
Patiala |
Dr. Dharam Vira Gandhi |
AAP |
13 |
Sangrur |
Bhagwant Mann |
AAP |
2009, 2014
Jaitley bowled out by Captain, AAP stuns Punjab with 4 wins
Rohan Dua
Chandigarh:
TNN The Times of India May 17 2014
By winning four out of the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab on Friday , the debutant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) not only scuttled the Modi wave in the state but also redefined its political equations.
While the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) held on to its 2009 tally of four seats, Congres was reduced from eight to just three seats, thanks to the AAP effect. While Congres's vote share in the state was 33% and SAD got 26.4%, AAP took away 24.5%. Punjab CM Parkash Badal had compared AAP to leprosy in April.
All Congres big guns -Ambika Soni in Anandpur Sahib, Sunil Jakhar in Ferozepur and state chief Partap Bajwa in Gurdaspur -lost their seats. But amid the rubble stood Captain Amarinder Singh who left BJP redfaced by defeating Arun Jaitley by a hefty margin of 1,05,175 votes. He is the only Congres candidate to have defeated a top BJP leader in the country .
The Jaitley defeat is significant because SAD had projected him as a possible deputy PM or finance minister who would fix Punjab's financial woes.
Captain's wife and Union minister, Preneet Kaur, was seen as a sure-shot winner but she lost to AAP's Dr Dharamvira Gandhi in Patiala. Badal bahu Harsimrat Kaur barely managed to defeat family rebel and PPP-Congres candidate Manpreet Badal by 19,395 votes.
The biggest win margin of 2,11,721 went to Sangrur satirist and AAP candidate Bhagwant Mann.
2019
Congress wins
May 24, 2019: The Times of India

From: May 24, 2019: The Times of India
Captain leads from front, gives Cong island of hope
Chandigarh:
Punjab bucked the nationwide trend of the Modi wave with Congress winning eight of the 13 seats in the state. The Akali-BJP alliance also managed to save face with its tally of four, including the successful debut of actor Sunny Deol by winning Gurdaspur. AAP retained its toehold in Punjab with Sangrur as its sole trophy. The results would have wider ramification on the political dynamics of the state.CM Amarinder Singh has already started using the results to reinforce his almost undisputed leadership in the state and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal has his task cut out to rejuvenate the party cadres after the rout in the 2017 assembly polls. The Badal couple — Sukhbir and his wife Harsimrat — have registered SAD victory in Ferozepur and Bathinda. The twin victory, besides the runner-up performance in most seats, will ensure that SAD gains vis-avis AAP, after the latter relegated it to the third position in the assembly polls.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi tried to add nationalism to the political discourse by holding rallies in key seats, justice for anti-Sikh riots and drug abuse continued to be the main issues in the state.
Taking credit for the Congress doubling its tally, Amarinder said on Thursday: “Punjabis have endorsed us for the second time and I assure them that we will leave no stones unturned to live up to their expectations in the next three years. I thank all our leaders, and most of all, I thank Punjabis for such a big victory. I am very grateful.”
He added: “We were four last time now, we are eight. So, we have gone up by as many numbers.”
Asked about holding ministers and MLAs accountable for Congress’s performance, he said: “Let us see, I am yet to get the final figures. But it was not a veiled threat. It was a fact that those who do not perform will have to face action.” He refused to comment on specific names.
Unlike the 2014 Lok Sabha and 2017 assembly elections when several professionals and political heavyweights lined up to seek AAP tickets, the party had to settle with volunteers in most constituencies, other than two sitting MPs — Bhagwant Mann (Sangrur) and Sadhu Singh (Faridkot). But sensing Sangrur was its only hope, AAP decided to spend all its resources for Mann. It tried to put up a fight in Bathinda by fielding Talwandi Sabo MLA Baljinder Kaur, but it did not work.
Even before the results were declared, Congress leaders seemed to have given up on Ferozepur, claiming that its candidate Sher Singh Ghubaya was declared a bit late and it had given Sukhbir an edge. But Ghubaya was the first ticket aspirant to launch his campaign, soon after switching to Congress from SAD.
After their public spat, both Amarinder and cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu seemed to have been waiting for the results. Sidhu had addressed almost 100 rallies across the state.
Now, Amarinder is using the results to his favour and re-establish his authority in the state unit.
Actor-turned-politician Sunny Deol was a surprise entry against Congress MP Sunil Jakhar, with the latter having won the bypoll in 2017 by a huge margin after the seat fell vacant following the demise of BJP MP Vinod Khanna.