Punjab hands 7 to Congress, 2 to radicals

Jupinderjit Singh

Chandigarh, June 4

Having lost power to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the 2022 Assembly elections, the Congress stamped its authority in the parliamentary elections by bagging seven of the 13 seats in Punjab.

Edit: Shifting sands

The big talking point was the huge victory of jailed radical leader and self-styled Khalistan activist Amritpal Singh from Khadoor Sahib and Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa from Faridkot. Amritpal polled 4,04,430 votes and won by a margin of 1,97,120 votes, the highest in the state, against his nearest rival, Kulbir Singh Zira of the Congress.

The Congress won the Amritsar (GS Aujla), Jalandhar (Charanjit Singh Channi), Ludhiana (Amrinder Singh Raja Warring), Fatehgarh Sahib (Amar Singh), Ferozepur (Sher Singh Ghubaya), Patiala (Dr Dharamvira Gandhi) and the Gurdaspur (Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa) seats.

The ruling AAP could get only three seats — Hoshiaprur (Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal), Anandpur Sahib (Malwinder Singh Kang) and Sangrur (Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer).

The SAD just managed to stay relevant by winning the Bathinda seat (Harsimrat Kaur Badal) whereas the BJP failed to open its account. However, the BJP’s vote share increased by three times from 6.6 per cent in the Assembly elections to 18.56 per cent. It stood third in the state in terms of the vote share.

Interestingly, Punjab is the only state to elect an MP for AAP as the party could not win a single seat in New Delhi or any other state.

The Congress got 26.30 per cent votes, while AAP got 26.02 per cent. The BJP, however, made its presence felt by bagging a higher share of votes (18.56 per cent) than the SAD, which got 13.42 per cent. The SAD was fourth in the state and down from 27.76 per cent vote share in the 2019 elections.

Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa, son of Beant Singh, one of the assassins of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, won from Faridkot by bagging 2,98,062 votes, beating his nearest rival Karamjeet Anmol of AAP by 70,053 votes. This is the first victory for Sarabjeet in the four elections he has contested so far. In 2004, he was the SAD (Amritsar) candidate from the Bathinda Lok Sabha seat and later from the Bhadaur Assembly seat in 2007. He then contested the Lok Sabha elections from Fatehgarh Sahib as a candidate of the BSP. Khalsa fought the elections on sacrilege incidents and injustice against Sikhs.

Amritpal Singh is currently lodged in Dibrugarh Jail, Assam, under the National Security Act (NSA). The victory does not automatically mean he will be released from custody as demanded by his parents and supporters today. Under the NSA, a person considered dangerous for national security can be detained, without trial, up to 12 months with a provision for extension, subject to fresh evidence against him.

He was detained in April 2023 for sedition, attacking a police station in Ajnala and gathering arms and funds from abroad to wage a war against India. An advisory board under an HC judge reviews the detention after three months.

RP Singh, national spokesperson for the BJP, said the victory of the duo was a matter of grave concern as they contested in the name of Khalistan. It is the first time since 1989 that two radical leaders have been elected. The voters also chose the Congress, which has been accused of being behind Operation Blue Star and anti-Sikh riots. The SGPC (controlled by the SAD) had put up 1,500 banners and hoardings across the state reminding people about the Congress’ role in Operation Blue Star and the anti-Sikh riots.

The voters have picked the Congress, which terms itself secular, as well as radical leaders, who have a pro-Khalistan stance, to represent them in Parliament. However, they did not elect any candidate from the Simranjit Singh Mann-led Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), which has been a votary of Khalistan.

The voters had, however, elected Simranjit Singh Mann just two years ago in the Sangrur bypoll. Another paradox is the voters’ rejection of the ruling AAP candidates in 10 of the 13 seats. The party that won 92 of the 117 Assembly seats with a resounding vote share of 42.01 per cent could get only three seats in the LS poll.