SAD-BJP lose vote share, Congress gains in Punjab

Chandigarh: Despite attaining absolute majority in Punjab, the Shiromani Akali Dal and its ally BJP lost its vote share in comparison to Congress which failed to leave up to its expectations in the poll results of the 117 member Assembly. The father-son duo of Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh Badal succeeded in convincing the Punjab electorate to give 56 seats to the SAD, but they failed to raise the party’s vote share as compared to its tally in 2007 polls.[caption id=“attachment_236740” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Another stint as CM. Image courtesy PIB”]  [/caption] While the SAD’s vote share in this elections declined to 34.75 percent as compared to 37.09 percent in 2007, its ally BJP’s vote share also came down to 7.13 percent this time as against 8.28 per cent in the previous hustings. The vote percentage of SAD fell by 2.34 percent whereas its ally BJP’s vote percentage dropped by 1.15 percent. The Congress, which garnered 46 votes, however managed to increase its vote percentage. The Congress party’s vote percentage rose to 40.90 percent from 40.11 percent – an increase of 0.79 percent. The prime factor that had an impact on vote share of SAD, BJP and Congress appears to be the newly floated Peoples Party of Punjab (PPP) of Badal’s estranged nephew and former state finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal. The party, which contested the polls in alliance with the Left, registered a vote percent of 5.17. Left parties CPI and CPM, however, seems to be disappearing from the political scene as the vote share of both the parties fell drastically this time as compared to 2007 polls. While CPI fell from 3.31 percent to 0.82 percent, the CPM dropped from 2.25 percent in 2007 to 0.16 percent in 2012 polls. The vote percentage of CPI and CPM fell by 2.49 percent and 2.09 percent, respectively. In the present House, the number of Independents came down from six to three but their vote share of 417 Independents in fray this time increased by 0.06 percent from 6.82 in 2007 to 6.76 percent this year. The BSP, which had remained a non-entity in Punjab polls, had its vote share increased from 4.13 percent to 4.30 percent – a rise by 0.17 per cent. The party failed to open its account in the 117 member Assembly. PTI