Amritsar: Lok Sabha elections from the 'holy city' of Amritsar are likely to be a direct contest between BJP MP Navjyot Singh Sidhu and Congress party candidate Om Prakash Soni.
Cricketer turned politician, Sidhu is seeking to transform Amritsar into a modern city by improving its infrastructure facilities.
“We will change the image of Amritsar to a modern one by creating better roads and improving other infrastructure facilities," said Sidhu, a two time MP from Amritsar who is eyeing a third term.
His main rival the Congress party candidate Soni claims that the anti-incumbency factor will weigh against the lotus party that is in alliance in Punjab with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).
Soni, the sitting MLA from Amritsar West is of the view that the SAD-BJP alliance magic will not work this time as is there an anti-incumbency wave against them. "He (Sidhu) will be defeated by a huge margin", said Soni.
In the previous general parliament election Sidhu retained this seat while defeating the sitting Congress MP R L Bhatia (currently Governor Bihar). In 2007 Sidhu again contested election from Amritsar Parliamentary seat as this seat went vacant after his resignation after he was convicted in a criminal case.
Following the conviction in a culpable homicide case, Sidhu had to resign. However, later on the Supreme Court had extended relief while suspending his sentence till the final verdict of case, which paved way to Sidhu once again to contest election from Amritsar Parliament seat. Sidhu had won the election while defeating the then sitting Congress Finance Minister Surinder Singla with 77626 votes.
Renowned for his inimitable speaking style, Sidhu aims to better the industrial and infrastructural facilities in his constituency and also make it a tourism hub.
On the other hand, Congress' Soni has not yet announced what his exact plans are but was quite sure that this time the elections will not be easy for the SAD-BJP alliance and that the anti-incumbency factor will go against them.
Soni, contested twice as an Independent candidate for an MLA seat from Amritsar (West) and in the last Assembly general election in 2007 he fought on a Congress ticket.
There are nine assembly constituencies in the Amritsar Parliamentary seat wherein all belong to the SAD-BJP alliance except two (Amritsar west and Rajsansi) as these were won by Congress.
Amritsar Parliamentary Constituency has around 60 per cent Sikh votes. The size of the total electorate is 1509562 among which women are 722451 and men are 787111.
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