Four-cornered contest builds up in Darbar Sahib city Amritsar

Amritsar: In the prestigious Amritsar Lok Sabha seat, where the holiest shrine of the Sikhs -- the Darbar Sahib -- is located, the quintessential Panthic party, Akali Dal, has fielded a Hindu candidate. And the BJP has fielded a Sikh. However, it is the Congress which has been winning the seat the last two times, while the AAP swept this segment in the assembly polls. It is a four-cornered election in this high-profile Lok Sabha seat.

Congress has fielded its sitting MP, Gurjeet Singh Aujla, while AAP has fielded a minister in the state government, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, from here. Dhaliwal is the sitting MLA from Ajnala assembly segment of Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency.

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) is the only party that has fielded a Hindu candidate, Anil Joshi, a former BJP minister from Amritsar, which has more than 60% Sikh voters. SAD has never won Amritsar Lok Sabha since 1952. For more than two decades, the party has been leaving the seat for its erstwhile ally BJP.


BJP has fielded Taranjit Sandhu Samundri, a diplomat-turned-politician. He is the grandson of Teja Singh Samundri, the founding member of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC).

With both BJP and SAD experimenting with new candidates, the fact that AAP is fielding its sitting minister, has raised the stakes.

Like all other Lok Sabha seats in Punjab, the farmers' protest of 2020-21 still echoes in rural segments of this LS constituency. The BJP candidate has been facing the heat as he has to face the ire of farmers' unions during his campaign trail.

Opening of trade with Pakistan through Attari border, also echoes across the urban and rural parts of the constituency, which borders Pakistan.

With the farmers' issue echoing large, the anti-incumbency against AAP and the Akali Dal fielding a Hindu which would cut into the BJP votes in the urban areas, the tide may favour sitting MP Aujla.

During their respective campaigns, Aujla seems to be the focal point of attack of the other three candidates.

Aujla focuses his speeches on the farmers' protest and how he sat on dharna at Jantar Mantar. He said the AAP government in Punjab has not been fulfilling its promises while BJP imported its candidate from the US.

"People have seen my work. I raised their issues and stood by them through thick and thin. They will back me," Aujla said.

BJP nominee Sandhu talks about his vision for Amritsar and the issue of drug menace. Sandhu, India's former ambassador to the US, also talks about opening of trade routes and working on reducing visa fees for those visiting Kartarpur gurudwara in Pakistan.

SAD and its candidates have been calling all other parties Delhi-based political outfits, while it says it is the only party committed to Panth (Sikh religion).

SAD nominee Joshi, former MLA of Amritsar North, is counting on his personal rapport in Amritsar city and Akali Dal votes in Majithia, Rajasansi, Ajnala and Attari.

Both Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann have campaigned for the AAP candidate. He talks about free electricity provided by his party and requests people to vote for AAP so that the party could ensure that Punjab gets its due in allocation of funds from the Centre.