Arrangements in place for counting in Punjab on Friday

Chandigarh: Foolproof security arrangements have been made for the counting of votes for all the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab on Friday, an Election Commission official said on Thursday.

"The counting would commence at 8 am and all arrangements have been made for counting of votes registered in the EVMs," he said on Thursday.

During the polling, 71 per cent of total 1.95 crore voters sealed the fate of 253 contestants, including 19 women for the 13 seats.

In Amritsar, there is a clash of titans between Congress' Amarinder Singh and BJP's Arun Jaitley while Bathinda also grabbed eyeballs as Congress candidate Manpreet Singh Badal is facing Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal's daughter-in-law and sitting MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal.

Besides, Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa has locked horns with actor-turned-politician and BJP's Vinod Khanna from Gurdaspur seat.

Former union minister Ambika Soni is fighting her maiden Lok Sabha battle from Anandpur Sahib and Sunil Kumar Jakhar, son of Balram Jakhar and the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly has contested as a Congress candidate from Ferozepur.

Congress had to prove a point as the party had lost two back to back Assembly polls in 2007 and 2012 in the state.

For the first time in the state, there is another alternative for voters in the form of AAP besides ruling SAD-BJP combine and the Congress.

The AAP has a celebrity in Bhagwant Mann. The comedian is contesting from Sangrur. The party hopes to make dent in Akali votes with HS Phoolka in Ludhiana and to eat into the Congress pie in Patiala with Dharamvir Gandhi projecting himself as a commoner against erstwhile royal and sitting MP Preneet Kaur.

SAD's Paramjeet Kaur Gulshan is eyeing a hat-trick of victories from Faridkot seat against Congress candidate and siting MLA Joginder Singh.

Late Chief Minister Beant Singh's grandson Ravneet Singh Bittu (Cong) was shifted from his Anandpur Sahib seat to Ludhiana after incumbent Manish Tewari opted out of race citing health concerns.

Besides, Congress also shifted its Jalandhar MP Mohinder Singh Kaypee to contest from Hoshiarpur seat leaving out sitting MP and union minister Santosh Choudhary.

The Congress had also put its bet on sitting MLA Sadhu Singh Dharamsot from Fatehgarh Sahib by replacing sitting MP Sukhdev Singh Libra who after being denied ticket switched over to Akalis.

SAD's replaced sitting MP Ratan Singh Ajnala from Khadoor Sahib and it is make or break time for Akali stalwarts Ranjit Singh Brahmpura (Khadoor Sahab) and Prem Singh Chandumajra (Anandpur Sahib).

At present Congress has eight MPs, SAD four and its ally BJP has one MP in the state.