Punjab: Assembly elections
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Contents |
Assembly election verdicts, 1967-2017
See graphic.
2017
The run up to the elections
Punjab assembly polls: The complete fact sheet, Feb 4, 2017: The Times of India
'HIGHLIGHTS
Polling for 117 Punjab assembly seats that will decide the fate of 1,145 candidates began today. Punjab is witnessing a three-cornered contest between ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-
BJP alliance, opposition Congress and new entrant Aam Aadmi Party. Here's a full factual breakdown of the Assembly election in the state.
1. Assembly seats There are a total of 117 Assembly seats up for grabs. Of this, 83 seats are open to general candidates, while 34 are reserved for Scheduled Castes.
2. Electorate The state has 1.9 crore registered eligible voters, of which 1.05 crore are men and 94 lakh are women. The 2012 assembly polls witnessed a 78 per cent voter turnout.
3. Candidates There are 1,145 candidates contesting the elections this year. However, there are only 81 female candidates, just 7 per cent of the total. There is one candidate from the third gender.
4. The Contest
Party wise, the Congress has fielded the highest number of candidates. Congress: 116 Aam Aadmi Party: 112 SAD: 94 BJP: 23 BSP: 110
5. Big Fights
Lambi
SAD boss and Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal faces former Congress CM and Patiala royal Capt Amarinder Singh and AAP's Jarnail Singh in his pocket borough. One of the tallest leaders of the Sikhs, the senior Badal is fighting to retain his hold on the community as well. "Capt" is no stranger to big ticket battles and had defeated the BJP's Arun Jaitley from Amritsar in 2014 Lok Sabha polls. He is also contesting from his Patiala home turf.
Jalalabad
Deputy CM, Sukhbir Badal is also the party president. If SAD returns, Badal junior can take the credit. He faces some tough contenders in the fight — AAP's Bhagwant Mann and Congress's Ravneet Singh Bittu (grandson of slain Chief minister Beant Singh).
6. Hot Seats
Amritsar east
Navjot Singh Sidhu assertively sought to play a bigger role in state politics and quit the BJP to join the Congress ahead of the polls, saying he was a "born Congressman". His wife was BJP's sitting MLA on this seat before both joined the Congress. Sidhu was the party's main crowdpuller in Majha.
Majitha
Bikram Singh Majithia runs SAD alongside brother-in-law Sukhbir Badal. The powerful but controversial figure has won from this seat in 2007 and 2012, notching the second highest margin of votes, almost 50,000 votes.
7. Make or Break While he's not in the fray himself, Arvind Kejriwal's AAP is fighting the 'outsider' label and troubles in the state unit. Nevertheless, his party won four of the 13 Lok Sabha seats here in 2014 and Punjab is a good bet for AAP to shed its tag of being a Delhi party.
Congress wins: details
Vibhor Mohan & Rohan Dua. AAP Pegged Back, Punjab Pours A Patiala, March 12, 2017: The Times of India Party gains seats, but loses vote share
Congress registered a decisive win in Punjab in a three-cornered fight on Saturday. But even as it secured 77 seats, the party's vote share took a dip. Congress swept seats across regions: 39 of the total 69 in Malwa, 15 out of 23 in Doaba and 23 out of 25 in Majha.
“Congress did better than expected in Malwa, while it virtually swept the Dalit stronghold of Doaba and the border region of Majha.A reasonable performance by SAD-BJP in Malwa ensured that AAP did not sweep the region,“ said a Congress functionary .
This, despite speculation at one stage that AAP enjoyed more popularity in the Malwa region going by the crowds at public meetings of its star campaigner, Bhagwant Mann.
A strong state leadership under Captain Amarinder Singh, who managed to douse infighting among party leaders, and less interference of the high command, contrary to the practice in the past, also worked for Congress. The party pulled off a surprise even though it garnered just 38.4% of votes this time, which is almost 2% less than the 40.9% it got in 2012. Even its own leaders expected around 65 seats.
In the previous election, while the party had managed to win only 46 seats, its vote share had gone up from 40.11% in 2007. Despite registering an increase in vote share, Congress had failed to get a majority due to the damage caused by the People's Party of Punjab and the Bahujan Samaj Party in 2012.Ironically , though they spoilt Congress's fortunes, the two parties failed to win any seats themselves.
“The Congress campaign was meticulously planned around party president Captain Amarinder Singh and, in the last leg, the party tried hard to consolidate its presence in the Malwa region. Doaba and Majha were its strength from the start,“ said a party leader.
While Shiromani Akali Dal got 25.2% of votes, AAP managed to convince 23.8%of the electorate. Interestingly , Singh and party's star campaigner Navjot Singh Sidhu couldn't see eye to eye until the ex-cricketer joined Congress barely 15 days before the February 4 elections.On Saturday , the duo recorded two of the highest victory margins in the state.
While Singh's margin from Patiala Urban was 52,407 votes, Sidhu won Amritsar East seat by 42,809 votes. Though Sidhu was quick to scotch talks of being the deputy chief ministerial pick, his decision to hold a press conference before Singh's surprised everyone.
To his credit, Sidhu dedicated Congress' stellar tally to Singh and the Gandhi family and said that he might have joined the Congress team late, but he played like a T20 batsman. “I know how to play a T20 and a Test match,“ he said. “It is just the beginning. Congress will spread out from here.“ Sidhu held 36 rallies in seven days across the state during the last days of the campaign.
Asked if Sidhu would be the deputy chief minister, Amarinder said: “The Congress legislative party will meet on Sunday. All other decisions will be taken by Congress vicepresident Rahul Gandhi. We can only make recommendations.“
The region-wise performance of the parties
See graphic.
2022
The results
Vibhor Mohan, March 11, 2022: The Times of India
From: March 11, 2022: The Times of India
See graphic:
The results of the elections held in 2022 for the legislative assembly of Punjab.
Chandigarh: “We urged the voters ‘jhadoo chalao’, unhone toh vacuum cleaner chala diya. ” AAP’s Raghav Chadha pretty much summed up the feeling not only within the party but also among pollsters and the opposition parties, reduced to also-rans. The Aam Aadmi Party, which promised quality health and educational services on the lines of Delhi, overrode politics of caste, regionalism and Deras to bag a whopping majority of 92 seats in the 117-member House.
The feuding Congress was reduced to 18 seats and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) got three seats, while Bahujan Samaj Party and an independent bagged one each. Sanyukt Samaj Morcha, the political outfit of farmer bodies, failed to make a dent. Even its leader Balbir Singh Rajewal failed to open his account.
The electoral landslide also crushed several bigwigs, including former CMs Charanjit Singh Channi, Parkash Singh Badal, Amarinder Singh and Rajinder Kaur Bhattal. Eleven of Congress’ 18 cabinet ministers lost, as did the party’s state unit chief Navjot Singh Sidhu. In fact, the defeat margin of 50% of the cabinet ministers was substantially higher than their victory margins in 2017. Those who won are Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa (Dera Baba Nanak), Rana Gurjeet Singh (Kapurthala), Amrinder Singh Raja Warring (Gidderbaha), Pargat Singh (Jalandhar Cantonment), Aruna Chaudhary (Dinanagar), Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria (Raja Sansi), and Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa (Fatehgarh Churian). Rana Gurjeet’s son, Rana Inder Partap Singh, who contested as an independent from Sultanpur Lodhi, also won. Soon after the win — in a second state within a decade of AAP’s formation — the party’s co-incharge of Punjab affairs Raghav Chadha said, “In the coming days, AAP will emerge as the national and natural replacement of Congress”.
AAP’s sweep was mostly silent, powered by a call for change following the disillusionment with the traditional parties. The announcement of Bhagwant Mann as its chief ministerial face helped consolidate its vote share in the crucial Malwa region. Congress’ bet on Channi to woo the sizeable SC population too failed to cut much ice with the voters. AAP’s appeal extended well beyond Malwa too, as it hit out at the traditional parties for “looting” the state and sought “Ik Mauka” (one chance) to resurrect Punjab, promising to crack down on the sand and liquor mafia. The party won 16 of the 25 seats in the Majha region and 10 of 23 seats in Doaba. In 2017, AAP had failed to win even a single seat in Majha and had managed only two seats in Doaba. Besides, the party won in the Chandigarh civic body elections on debut.
The AAP leadership also seemed to have learnt its lessons from the 2017 debacle, and it made a conscious attempt not to let its campaign peak too early, besides maintaining safe distance from the Punjabi NRI groups supporting the radicals.
“This time, several winning candidates of AAP played giant killers, but they too realised that people voted for the party’s election symbol (broom). Similarly, many didn’t even consider AAP in the reckoning on hot seats like Amritsar (East), Lehra and Patiala but the broom’s magic worked,” said an AAP leader. Sidhu and SAD’s Bikram Singh Majithia contested from Amritsar (East); Bhattal from Lehra and former CM Amarinder from Patiala (Urban).
