Sidhu gets re-elected from Amritsar LS seat

Chandigarh, Feb 27 (UNI) Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu (BJP) was today re-elected from Amritsar Lok Sabha seat which he resigned in December last after being convicted in an 18-year-old road rage death case.

Sidhu defeated Punjab Finance Minister Surinder Singla (Congress) by a margin of 77,626 votes in the bye-election which witnessed a bitter campaign.

He polled 4,44,748 votes while Singla polled 3,67,122 votes.

In the run up to the polls, the two candidates and their supporters almost came to blows on a debate programme organised by a TV channel in Amritsar while Mr Singla was accused of slapping a poll election official on the day of polling.

In the 2004 Parliamentary elections, Sidhu had defeated former Union Minister R L Bhatia from Amritsar-- a traditional Congress stronghold--by a margin over one lakh.

Sidhu resigned the seat in December last year on ''moral grounds'' after he was convicted and sentenced to three-year imprisonment by the Punjab and Haryana High Court for causing death of a Patiala resident in an 18-year-old road rage case.

The court had, however, suspended the sentence and allowed Sidhu to appeal in the Supreme Court till January 31.

Sidhu surrendered before the High Court on January 11 and was lodged in central jail Patiala.

The Supreme Court on December 12 granted him bail, following which the BJP announced him as the party candidate for the Amritsar bypolls.

UNI