A congress bastion even during the dark years of militancy, the Jalandhar Parliamentary constituency witnesses a straight fight this time between SAD candidate Hans Raj Hans and PPCC state president Mohinder Singh Kaypee.

The constituency is considered a Congress stronghold , as the party has won 10 times from here in 14 general elections since 1952. The important winners from here have been former prime minister IK Gujral (Janta Dal- 1989 and 1998), Swaran Singh, a Cabinet minister for long, and Darbara Singh.

The constituency has nine Assembly segments. Interestingly, in the 2007 Punjab assembly election, the Akali Dal-BJP alliance won nine out of 10 seats. At that time, Congress won only one seat.

There are over 11.5 lakh voters here, including over 25 per cent Jat Sikhs, 40 per cent Dalits and 12 per cent Hindus. The remaining votes belong to Kamboj and Backward Classes. In the last LS elections, Congress candidate Rana Gurjit Singh defeated SAD’s Naresh Gujral. The Congress most of the time witnessed an internal fight over this seat.

After delimitation Jalandhar Lok Sabha constituency has become a Reserved seat, and the Dalit vote will play a major role this time.