BARNALA: Punjab has witnessed three parliamentary byelections in the last 15 years, and the voter turnout had been much higher than Sangrur. The first byelection was conducted for Amritsar parliamentary constituency in February 2007 after then MP Navjot Singh Sidhu had resigned from Parliament in December 2006 after being convicted by the high court in a road rage case. The bypoll had recorded 67.10%polling as Sidhu, being a BJP candidate then, had won with a margin of 77,626 votes, defeating Surinder Singla of the Congress.
Bypolls were again held in February 2017 after Captain Amarinder Singh had resigned as Amritsar MP. Congress candidate Gurjit Singh Aujla defeated Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina of BJP by 1.99 lakh votes, and 70.50% polling was recorded. The third bypoll was held at Gurdaspur in October 2017 upon the demise of then MP Vinod Khanna. Congress leader Sunil Jakhar defeated BJP's Swaran Salaria by 1.93 lakh votes. The voter turnout was recorded at 56.43%.
