Amritsar West: Eyeing Hat-trick, Congress Faces Tough Test in Its Stronghold

Amritsar West Constituency, Punjab: The Amritsar West Assembly constituency that falls under the Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency is scheduled to go to polls in Punjab Assembly Election 2022 on February 20. Amritsar West was declared a reserved seat to represent the Schedule Caste community in 2012. Since then, for the two consecutive terms, Raj Kumar Verka for Indian National Congress‘ ticket had won the Vidhan Sabha election from the constituency. In 2017, Verka had won the seat by defeating Rakesh Gill from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with a margin of 26,847 votes.

In 2022, the Vidhan Sabha seat is expected to witness a multi-cornered fight with farmer unions’-backed Sanyukt Samaj Morcha’s (SSM) supporting the Communist Party of India (CPI) candidate Amarjit Singh Asal and former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh’s Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) backing BJP’s advocate Kumar Amit, who is son of BJP leader Kewal Kumar.

Key Candidates in Fray This Year

• Raj Kumar Verka from Congress
• Former MLA Dalbir Singh Verka from Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)
• Kumar Amit from BJP and Punjab Lok Congress
• Dr Jasbir Singh from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)
• Amarjit Singh Asal from CPI

Brief Electoral History of Amritsar West Constituency

Since 1972, Congress has won from Amritsar West constituency five times and CPI has tasted the victory thrice. Apart from that, Punjab’s Deputy Chief Minister Om Parkash Soni is the only candidate to have won from the seat as an independent candidate twice. The lotus is yet to bloom in Amritsar West, BJP has emerged as the runner-up party in the past three assembly elections.

2017 Assembly Election Results