Flashing the victory sign amid slogans of 'Sidhu zindabad,' cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu on Thursday filed his nomination papers as Bharatiya Janata Party candidate for the Amritsar Parliamentary seat.

Flanked by enthusiastic BJP workers and supporters, Sidhu drove in a procession to the Deputy Commissioner's office to submit his papers. BJP national general secretary and in charge of BJP affairs in Punjab, Arun Jaitley, however, was not present on the occasion.

Exuding confidence, Sidhu told media persons that the voters of Amritsar, who gave him a thumping victory in the last Lok Sabha polls, would again stand by him. The Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance will be voted to power in the assembly polls, he reiterated.

"A conspiracy was hatched against me," he claimed, adding: "Just as you cannot stop the rays of the sun, you cannot hide the truth for long. I respect the Court's verdict and have great respect for the Judiciary."

Sidhu had resigned from the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat following his conviction in a 1988 road rage case by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on December 6. Sidhu, who was sentenced to three years imprisonment, appealed against his conviction and sought a stay from the Supreme Court.

The apex court stayed the conviction, paving the way for him to contest the Amritsar by-election. Sidhu's main opponent from Amritsar will be Finance Minister Surinder Singla, who has been chosen by the Congress high command to take on the immensely popular television anchor.

In the last Lok Sabha polls, Sidhu had trounced Congress heavyweight and former Union minister R L Bhatia by over one lakh votes. Bhatia, now the Governor of Kerala, had won four Parliamentary elections from Amritsar. He was the first choice of the Congress for the by-election, but he declined.