Chandigarh, June 2 (IANS) Punjab’s ruling AAP is likely to get only three to six seats out of the state’s 13, while the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) will get zero to three seats, the BJP zero to two seats and the main opposition Congress six-nine seats, as per Exit Poll predictions by Matrize
Voting for the 13 Lok Sabha seats of the state was held on June 1.
Punjab, where the BJP and its former ally SAD went solo this time, saw a four-way fight on all 13 parliamentary seats with 328 candidates in the fray.
On seats like Khadoor Sahib and Faridkot (reserved), the entry of jailed Sikh radical Amritpal Singh, head of ‘Waris Punjab De’ who is locked in an Assam jail under the National Security Act, and Sarabjit Singh, the son of one of the assassins of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, respectively, both as Independents, has evoked a “radical” wave.
Also in the fray is sitting MP and Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) President Simranjit Singh Mann, a proponent for a separate Sikh homeland, from Sangrur, once the traditional bastion of AAP leader and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. The AAP lost this seat in a 2022 by-poll, just three months after coming to the helm.
The state’s main Opposition Congress, the ruling AAP, the BJP and the Akali Dal in month-long high-octane electioneering tried to build up momentum on issues like the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, apprehensions over subversion of the Constitution, farmers’ issues, sharing of river waters and reopening of India-Pakistan trade apart from issues of infrastructure development, especially in border areas, drugs, law and order effective reinforcement, declining productivity both in industry and agriculture and civic problems.
Several Sikh issues, including heavy cut off in the blacklist of Sikh foreign nationals and the reopening of a corridor to visit Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara, among the holiest of holy shrines as it is believed to be the final resting place of the first Sikh guru, Guru Nanak Dev, by the BJP-led Centre also remained dominant issues on the religious side.
Among the candidates fielded by the BJP, which has been going solo for the first time since 1996, are sitting MPs, Preneet Kaur (from Patiala), Ravneet Bittu (Ludhiana), and Sushil Rinku (Jalandhar reserved) and former state minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi (Ferozepur), all once in the Congress. Among the defectors fielded by AAP are sitting Congress legislator Raj Kumar Chabbewal from Hoshiarpur (reserved) and former legislators Gurpreet Singh GP (Fatehgarh Saheb-SC) and Pawan Tinu (Jalandhar-SC).
However, Congress has reposed faith in three turncoats – four-time legislator Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu from Bathinda, Amarjit Kaur Sahoke from Faridkot, and former MP Dharamvira Gandhi from Patiala. The Akali Dal has reposed faith in former Congress MP Mohinder Singh Kaypee from Jalandhar.
The interesting contests are on Congress strongholds- Amritsar, Jalandhar and Patiala seats, Akali Dal bastion Bathinda and BJP-held Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur seats. In 2019, the Congress won eight seats in Punjab — Amritsar, Faridkot, Anandpur Sahib, Jalandhar, Khadoor Sahib, Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib, and Patiala — while the Akali Dal won from Bathinda and Ferozepur, and the BJP emerged winners in Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur. The AAP won the Sangrur seat.
–IANS
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