look news india
Patiala: After 32 years, Bharatiya Janata Party is going to field its candidate in Patiala Lok Sabha constituency. Earlier, the candidature from this seat was with Shiromani Akali Dal. In the 17 Lok Sabha elections held in 67 years, the Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded its candidate only once. For the first time in 1952, elections were held on Patiala seat. In 1992, Bharatiya Janata Party fielded a candidate for the first time but did not win. The alliance of Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiromani Akali Dal is in existence from 1996 to 2021 and the candidature ticket from Patiala constituency was given to Shiromani Akali Dal only. It will be challenging for BJP to contest elections separately after decades. Therefore, BJP has decided to give ticket to an already established and experienced face on this seat.
It is noteworthy that in the 1992 Lok Sabha elections, Bharatiya Janata Party had made Dewan Chand Singla its candidate from Patiala seat for the first time. At that time Singla was in third place with 28877 votes, while Congress candidate Sant Ram had won with 135864 votes and Shiromani Akali Dal Amritsar's Manjit Singh Khaira was in second place with 32088 votes. After this, Bharatiya Janata Party never contested elections alone on this seat. In 1996, an alliance was formed and the candidature for the seat went to Shiromani Akali Dal.
The alliance lost five times in Patiala.
During the 23-year alliance, the Akali-BJP alliance fielded its candidates seven times, out of which they won only twice and lost five times. In 1996, an alliance was formed and Akali Dal candidate Prem Singh Chandumajra won by 316554 votes defeating Congress candidate Sant Ram Singla. Again in the elections of Patiala Lok Sabha constituency in 1998, Shiromani Akali Dal candidate Prof. Prem Singh Chandumajra won for the second time. Even in 1999, the alliance between the two parties continued and the candidature again went to Shiromani Akali Dal. Captain Kanwaljit Singh in 2004, Prem Singh Chandumajra in 2009, Deepinder Singh Dhillon in 2014 and Surjit Singh in 2019 contested the elections as alliance candidates but none of them won.
Praneet Kaur increased activities
Preneet Kaur is being seen as a strong contender for the BJP candidate in the assembly constituency. Although BJP has not yet released the list of its candidates, but the senior leadership has announced that Preneet Kaur will contest from this seat. After joining BJP, Preneet Kaur has intensified her activities. A round of meetings has started in Moti Mahal and workers are being met in the area.