Watch | Four-cornered battle for Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency

The ruling AAP and the Congress, both INDIA bloc partners, are fighting against each other in Punjab; former alliance partners BJP and SAD are contesting on all seats separately; the BSP is also for the first time contesting alone on all the seats in the State .

In 20 elections held in his seat, Congress has won 13 times. Out of these 13 times, Raghunandan Lal Bhatia, won it six times. Congress has fielded the incumbent MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla, while AAP has fielded minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal.

Akali Dal is contesting the seat for the first time as this seat used to fall always in BJP’s kitty, when the two were in alliance. They have fielded Anil Joshi, who is the only Hindu candidate among other Jat Sikhs.

BJP meanwhile has fielded former US ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu. The saffron party has had a checkered history with the seat. In 1967 Bharatiya Jan Sangh, BJP’s precursor, won this seat for the first time. BJP has won this seat only four times, three of which were won by Navjot Singh Sidhu - 2004, 2007 (bypoll) and 2009. In the last two elections BJP has had to face humiliating defeats.

In 2014 Congress’ Captain Amrinder Singh defeated Arun Jaitely by over one lakh votes and in 2019 Hardeep Puri was defeated by 99626 votes.

To discuss Amritsar’s prospects, we are joined by The Hindu’s Sandeep Phukan.

Also Read:In the multi-cornered fight in Punjab, AAP faces critical test, Akali Dal fights to regain relevance, and Congress hopes to improve its tally

Host: Sobhana K. Nair