The voting for Punjab concluded on 1st June 2024 in the seventh and last phase of Lok Sabha Elections. The result will be announced on 4th June 2024. The Lok Sabha seat of Patiala was considered the hot seat because of the candidates contesting against each other. Delving into voters’ turnout for assembly elections of the year 2019. Patiala’s total turnout of voters was 67.78%. This year it is said to be 62.14% which shows 5.16% decrease from the last elections.
Patiala for the first time witnessed four cornered elections. This is after 21 years that BJP has come in elections without any alliance. For the unversed, it was in 1997 that the BJP formed an alliance with SAD and till 2019 they contested elections together. Post 2019, this was the first time that BJP and SAD contested solo in an assembly election.
Patiala was being considered as the hot seat because of the popular candidates that were announced from here. This year, Capt. Amarinder Singh’s wife Preneet Kaur contested from the Bharatiya Janta Party. Former Punjab CM Capt. Amarinder Singh’s family has always had a stronghold in Patiala. His wife Preneet Kaur is the only candidate who has won the election from this constituency thrice i.e. in years 2004, 2009 and 2019. Punjab’s Health Minister Dr. Balbir Sidhu contested from Aam Aadmi Party. The party performed quite well in Patiala during previous Assembly Elections. After Preneet Kaur went to BJP, Congress announced Dr. Dharamvir Gandhi as their candidate from the Patiala constituency. Dharamvir Gandhi was earlier a member of Aam Aadmi Party but left it due to certain differences with AAP Supremo Arvind Kejriwal. He is considered a strong candidate because Dharamvir Gandhi once defeated Preneet Kaur. Lastly, Shiromani Akali Dal announced Zirakpur Ex-MLA and builder NK Sharma as a candidate for LS Polls 2024. Looking at all the candidates, the main fight will be between BJP’s Preneet Kaur and Congress’s Dharamvir Gandhi.
For the unversed, Preneet Kaur won the seats in 2004, 2009 and 2019. Dharamvir Gandhi also once defeated Preneet Kaur and won in the year 2014. Patiala has in total of 2077 polling stations. The constituency consists of 9,35,238 males, 8,52,433 females and 76 transgenders making a total of 1787747 voters.