Congress Punjab Chief Navjot Sidhu Loses His Seat. 5 Facts

Many stalwarts had to bite the dust in the Punjab elections where Aam Aadmi Party scored a resounding victory. Among the big names was Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, who lost the Amritsar East seat to Jeevanjyot Kaur of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Mr Sidhu lost by a margin of over 6,000 votes. While he polled 32,929 votes, Ms Kaur received 39,520 votes. 

Here are 5 things about Navjot Singh Sidhu:

1.The cricketer-turned-politician won three Lok Sabha elections from Amritsar on a BJP ticket. In 2017 assembly polls, he contested as a Congress candidate from the Amritsar East seat and won by a margin of 42,000 votes.

2. This election was significant because Mr Sidhu was at the centre of the infighting within the Congress, which eventually led to the removal of Captain Amarinder Singh as chief minister. Mr Singh was replaced by Charanjit Singh Channi just months before the assembly elections.

3.  Mr Sidhu turned a relentless critic of the own party's government led by Mr Channi. He even wrote a letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi against the policies of the Punjab government and suggested that she give directions to Mr Channi.

4. Navjot Singh Sidhu had resigned as the Congress chief in Punjab just months before the polls. He withdrew his resignation after meeting the Congress leadership in Delhi.

5. Though Navjot Singh Sidhu was not the Congress' chief ministerial candidate this time, given the party's disastrous showing in the polls he will face criticism.