Congress retains Amritsar LS seat

Gurjeet Singh Aujla celebrates his victory in Amritsar on Saturday. Ran Simranjit Singh

The Congress has secured the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat, which was vacated by Captain Amarinder Singh after he resigned from Parliament on the Satluj-Yamuna link canal issue last year. Congress candidate Gurjeet Singh Aujla defeated BJP nominee Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina by a margin of 1,97,491 votes. AAP candidate Upkar Singh Sandhu secured 1,49,160 votes to finish third.

Aujla was Amritsar district Congress Committee (rural) president before being given the ticket to contest the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat. Amarinder had defeated Arun Jaitley in the 2014 Lok Sabha election by a margin of 1,02,000 votes. He resigned from Parliament in November 2016 to protest against the Supreme Court judgment on the SYL canal the same month.

Jaitley had visited Amritsar to canvass for Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina.  Once a confidant of Punjab cabinet minister Bikram Singh Majithia, AAP candidate Upkar Singh Sandhu was a last-minute choice for the party.