NEW DELHI: Former Punjab CM and Congress candidate Charanjit Singh Channi, who lost both the seats he contested in the February 2022 Assembly elections, won the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat. He defeated BJP candidate Sushil Kumar Rinku by a margin of 1,75,993 votes, AAP’s Pawan Kumar Tinu by a margin of 1,81,164, and Shiromani Akali Dal’s Mohinder Singh Kaypee by a margin of 3,22,142.
Jalandhar is an important urban centre in Punjab, known for its educational institutions, sports culture, and industrial development. It’s also a key constituency in Punjab politics. Charanjit Singh Channi had earlier won the Chamkaur Sahib Assembly seat in Ropar district thrice in a row.
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As the state’s first Dalit Chief Minister, Channi has also relied on the faith of Congress to attract Dalit voters, who constitute 32 per cent of the state’s population, making it the country’s largest.
Channi, a former handball player who led the party in the 2022 Assembly polls, began his political career at 20. Taking over from Amarinder Singh as Chief Minister on September 19, 2021, in a temporary capacity before the state elections, he became the first non-Jat Sikh CM in Punjab since 1977.
In Punjab, a four-way contest unfolded as allies at the national level, representing both the ruling and opposition factions, competed separately for all 13 Lok Sabha seats.
From Jalandhar, the Lok Sabha Constituency that voted on June 1, in the seventh phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Sushil Kumar Rinku contested from the BJP ticket from a seat reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates. Moreover, Pawan Kumar Tinu, formerly associated with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), contested the elections on an AAP ticket for Jalandhar. In contrast, Mohinder Singh Kaypee, previously aligned with the Congress, contested the 2024 elections with the SAD