Cong takes the cake, spoils AAP’s party
Ruling party fails to repeat its 2022 stellar show; wins in 33 assembly segments of 13 LS constituencies compared to 92 seats it had bagged in 2022 state polls
When the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) stormed to power with a historic mandate two years ago, it won assembly seats across Punjab, leaving the state awash in yellow, the dominant colour of the party flag.
However, the political map of the state has changed significantly after Tuesday’s Lok Sabha election results, acquiring colours of all political hues. The ruling AAP, which had hoped to replicate its earlier success in the parliamentary polls, has won in 33 assembly segments of the 13 Lok Sabha constituencies in Punjab, compared to the 92 seats it had bagged out of the total 117 in the 2022 state assembly elections.
According to an analysis of the assembly segment-wise Lok Sabha results, AAP candidates have finished second in 53 assembly segments and third in 29. The party has managed to win three Lok Sabha seats — Sangrur, Anandpur Sahib and Hoshiarpur — falling well short of its ambitious ‘Mission 13’.
Congress, BJP made big gains
The Congress, the principal opposition party, is the biggest beneficiary of the AAP’s lacklustre performance, leading in 37 assembly segments, which is more than double the number of seats it had won in the assembly polls. Party candidates got the runners-up position in 42 assembly segments and finished third in 29. Congress leaders view their seven parliamentary seats from Punjab as a “huge positive” for the party in the state.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has just two MLAs in the state assembly, did not win any Lok Sabha seat in the state, but it has gained ground significantly, drawing on the groundswell of support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi among a section of Hindus in urban pockets of the state. With a jump in its vote share to 18.56% from 6.6% in the 2022 state polls, BJP candidates came ahead of all their rivals in 23 assembly segments and second in seven. The saffron party had contested all 13 Lok Sabha seats in the state for the first time since 1996 after its ally SAD ended ties.
The SAD, once a dominant player in state politics, had also gone solo this time. Though the Akali Dal has clinched victory in the Bathinda Lok Sabha seat, the party failed to get much support in other constituencies. Of the nine assembly segments in which its candidates took the lead, five are in Bathinda. Akali nominees came second in six assembly segments and finished third in 26.
Two successful Independent candidates, jailed radical Sikh leader Amritpal Singh and Sarabjit Singh Khalsa, the son of Beant Singh, one of the assassins of then prime minister Indira Gandhi, also finished ahead of their rivals in most of the assembly segments of the Khadoor Sahib and Faridkot Lok Sabha constituencies, respectively.
Ruling party slumped in Malwa, Majha
The AAP took a real battering in Malwa, the biggest and politically most influential region of Punjab, where the party had won 66 of 69 assembly seats in 2022. Though the AAP secured two of its three parliamentary seats in Malwa, party candidates took the lead in only 24 of the 69 assembly segments this time. AAP candidate and cabinet minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer came ahead of his rivals in eight of the nine segments of Sangrur, which he has won by 1.72 lakh votes, while his party colleague Malvinder Singh Kang took the lead in five of the nine assembly segments to secure the Anandpur Sahib parliamentary seat.
In the Malwa belt, the Congress came first in 17 assembly segments, BJP in 12, and SAD and Independents in eight each.
In Majha also, other parties have gained at the cost of the ruling party. The AAP, which won 16 of 25 assembly seats two years ago, has finished first in only two this time. The Congress has taken the lead in 10, BJP and Independents in six each and the SAD in one.
In comparison, the AAP has done better in Doaba where the party candidates took the lead in seven assembly segments and scored victory in one of the two parliamentary constituencies. The Congress is at the top in 10 assembly segments and the BJP in five. The AAP’s strike rate was the lowest in this belt in 2022 when it won 10 of the 23 seats. A senior AAP leader said the party would closely study the election results and take corrective measures. “I am sure the chief minister will call a meeting in this regard soon,” he said, requesting anonymity.