People of Punjab delivered decisive mandate during Assembly
Election 2017 as Congress won the battle with 77 seats out of 117. Akali
Dal-BJP combine which was fighting 10 years’ anti-incumbency reduced to 18
seats out of which BJP got just 3. The new comer Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won 22
seats with total vote share of 25%. Although AAP fought the election with
fierce campaign against both Akalis as well as Congress highlighting issues of
corruption and drug menace; people of Punjab posed their faith in tried and
tested leadership of Captain Amarinder Singh.
Congress won 77 seats with impressive vote share of 38.5%
which resulted landslide victory. Importantly even during Lok Sabha 2014, BJP-Akali
combine did not do well with just 6 seats out of 13. Since then not many corrective
measures were taken by BJP to reverse the trend. Also, exodus of Navjot Singh Sindhu
from BJP towards Congress played crucial role to make situation even worse.
Navjot Sindhu was unhappy with BJP top brass as he was denied the ticket from
Amritsar Lok Sabha seat which was fought by Arun Jaitley that time. Incidentally,
Jaitley lost the election against Congress candidate Captain Amarinder Singh.
Although Sidhu was offered Rajya Sabha seat by BJP; he was unhappy with his
restricted role in home state of Punjab. As a result, Sindhu divorced BJP to
look for newer option. AAP also failed to seal a deal with Sindhu resulting in
him joining Congress.
Major credit of Congress victory goes to Captain who
drove entire election campaign and worked hard to reverse the trend in favor of his
party. The micro-management coupled with raising right issues to benefit from
anger against ruling combine of Akali-BJP, Captain projected Congress as most
credible alternative. Positive image of Amarinder Singh due to work done during
his stint as Chief Minister in 2002-2007 also helped. Aam Aadmi Party although
tried really hard, failed to erase its image as outsider which eventually made
the difference. However, with 25% vote share and 22 seats AAP in alliance Lok Insaaf Party successfully
established itself as main opposition party in Punjab. Not a bad for party
which fought its first assembly election however with lot of scope for improvement.
The significance of Punjab Assembly Results should be analyzed
from broader perspective that this is the first time since Lok Sabha 2014 BJP victory
that Congress has managed to win an state election. With Uttar Pradesh giving
thumping mandate to Narendra Modi led BJP; victory of Congress in Punjab would certainly
help the morale of cadre. Also, it can create a belief that if strategy and
hard work is combined then even impossible task of beating Narendra Modi is
possible.
Thank you
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