Elections 98

State:	Punjab
Constituency:	Gurdaspur
Total Votes Polled:	712706
Winner: BJP	Vinod Khanna	398527
Runner Up: INC	Sukhbuns Kaur	291694
Margin: 106833 (27%)

Elections 96

State:	Punjab
Constituency:	Gurdaspur
Total Votes Polled:	687387
Winner: INC	Sukhbuns Kaur	237499
Runner Up: BJP	Jagdish Sawhney	162952
Margin: 74547 (11.06%)

Sukhbans Kaur has won this constituency for the Congress five consecutive times, and this time she faces the BJP's star candidate, Vinod Khanna. It is an interesting scenario by all accounts. Barring 1977, when the BLD won from here, the Congress has never lost from here. In 1996, Kaur defeated her nearest BJP rival by more than 70,000 votes. What was interesting about that encounter was that the Shiromani Akali Dal took away 140,812 votes, which could accrue to the BJP this time since the two parties are allies.