Elections 98

State:	Punjab
Constituency:	Patiala
Total Votes Polled:	816611
Winner: SAD	Prem Singh Chandumajra	410937
Runner Up: INC	Amrinder Singh	377686
Margin: 33251 (8%)

Elections 96

State:	Punjab
Constituency:	Patiala
Total Votes Polled:	697006
Winner: SAD	Prem Singh Chandumajra	316554
Runner Up: INC	Sant Ram	267488
Margin: 49066 (7.20%)

The person to break the Congress monopoly over this constituency, which it had won on the trot till 1971, was Gurcharan Singh Tohra, in 1977. Tohra, of course, is the wily fox of Punjab politics, the president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee. But since then, the Akalis have won the seat only twice, in 1985 and in 1996, the Congress being elected for the rest. Prem Singh Chandumajra (SAD) was elected in 1996 by nearly 50,000 votes. This time, he faces Captain Amarinder Singh (Congress) who last won this seat in 1980. Captain Singh -- the former Maharaja of Patiala -- resigned the seat in 1984 and left the Congress, in protest against Operation Bluestar.