Punjab: Congress bounces back with resounding win on 7 seats, 3 for AAP
The Congress tally, though one less than the eight seats it won in the 2019 parliamentary polls, marked its return as a dominant player in state politics after the party had slumped to a distant runner-up position in the state assembly polls two years ago.
A resurgent Congress bounced back in Punjab on Tuesday by winning seven of the 13 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, ahead of the state’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), after a dismal showing in the 2022 assembly elections.
The Congress tally, though one less than the eight seats it won in the 2019 parliamentary polls, marked its return as a dominant player in state politics after the party had slumped to a distant runner-up position in the state assembly polls two years ago. The AAP, which had stormed into power with a historic 92 of the 117 assembly seats, bagged just three Lok Sabha seats, Independents two and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) one in the first-ever quadrangular fight in the state.
Though the Congress and the AAP contested the elections against each other in the state, their 10 seats will be reflected in the INDIA bloc’s kitty as the two parties are partners at national level. The two parties had a direct fight in at least seven constituencies, including Amritsar, Patiala, Anandpur Sahib, Sangrur, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ferozepur, and Hoshiarpur, and the voters gave a split verdict, giving four of these to the Congress and three to the AAP.
But the big story of the election in this state is the victory of two Independents, jailed radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh and Sarabjit Singh Khalsa, the son of Beant Singh, one of the assassins of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, in Khadoor Sahib and Faridkot. Amritpal and Khalsa defeated their nearest rivals, Kulbir Singh Zira of the Congress and Karamjit Anmol of the AAP, by 1.97 lakh and 70,053 votes, respectively. The victory margin of the Waris Punjab De chief, presently lodged in Assam’s Dibrugarh jail under the National Security Act (NSA), is the highest in the state. Their emphatic victories, seen as a major churn in panthic politics of the state, appear set to put the spotlight on hardliners.
Congress, AAP get 26% votes each
The overall contest between the Congress and the AAP was much closer than the seat tally shows. The Congress and the AAP polled 26% votes each. While the Congress’ vote share was 26.30%, the AAP polled 26.02% votes which was a drop of 16% from its vote percentage of 42% in the 2022 assembly elections. The AAP had polled 7.38% in the 2019 parliamentary polls. The Congress had polled 23% votes in the state polls two year ago. The biggest gainer in terms of vote share was the BJP, which got 18.56% votes against 6.6% in the state polls. The prominent winners included Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, ex-CM Charanjit Channi, Dr Dharamvira Gandhi, former deputy CM Sukhjinder Randhawa, and Gurjeet Singh Aujla of the Congress, Harsimrat Kaur Badal of the SAD and Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer of the AAP.
