Chandigarh is a planned city and Union Territory serving as joint capital of Haryana and Punjab. The seat and place has special significance due to its strategic location. Chandigarh Lok Sabha has a unique distinction. Since the 2004 LS election the party which won the seat formed the government at Centre. The seat is known for electing intellectuals. In 1977 the seat was won by the late Krishnakant. Later Krishnakant became Vice-President of India.
From 1991 to 2014 this seat was represented by two prominent lawyers and intellectuals Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal and Satyapal Jain. Mr Bansal later became Railway Minister of India in Manmohan Singh cabinet.
The seat has a big messaging effect. Chandigarh LS seat has a big impact on Haryana politics. In 2014 the BJP won the seat. Some months later in the Haryana Assembly election the BJP formed a government in Haryana. In the 2009 Haryana Assembly election the BJP won only 4 seats and in 2014 the BJP on its own without any alliance partner won 47 seats.
After its inception the BJP’s best performance was in 1987 when the BJP won 16 seats by contesting on 20 seats in alliance with the Lok Dal in leadership of late Chaudhary Devilal in Haryana.In 2019 again the BJP won the seat and the BJP again formed government in Haryana with increased vote share.
In the 1999 Lok Sabha election the BJP denied a ticket to its two-term MP from the seat Mr Satyapal Jain. The BJP gave its ticket to Mr Krishna Lal Sharma, spokesperson and senior leader of the party. Mr K L Sharma lost the seat by a narrow margin to Mr Bansal. In 2004 and 2009 LS elections Mr Bansal defeated Satyapal Jain.
In 2014 the resurgent BJP took strong and decisive decisions and put Kirron Kher as its candidate. Kirron Kher defeated three term Congress party MP Mr Bansal. This time the BJP put Mr Sanjay Tandon replacing Kiron Kher, two term MP from the seat. Sanjay Tandon has a long association with politics of Chandigarh. His association with local politics is a big asset for the party and him. This will help him in this election.
The Congress party has put Manish Tewari as its candidate from the seat. Tewari is MP from Anandpur Sahib in Punjab. Mr Tewari was Ludhiana MP from 2009 to 2014. Again in 2019 he changed his seat and contested from Anandpur Sahib.
Since the electorates of Chandigarh are active and sensible so they will never choose any such candidate who changes his constituency so frequently. Due to his long association with Chandigarh local politics in various forms Sanjay Tandon will remain with them for long. It can also be said that Mr Sanjay Tandon is going to start his long political innings from the seat.
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