Almost half (49.5%) of the assembly seats in Punjab have witnessed a victory margin between 20,000 and 75,000 votes, which is considered huge for Assembly elections where the total number of voters was between 1.25 lakh and 2 lakh. Of the total 58 seats (in the 117 seats Punjab Assembly) that saw a high victory margin, 57 were won by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and one by Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).
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Of the 58, nine constituencies recorded a victory margin between 20,000 and 25,000 votes, 38 constituencies witnessed a victory margin between 25,000 and 50,000 votes while 11 constitutions polled between 50,000 and 75,000 votes.
The huge victory margins were mostly recorded in the Malwa region where AAP registered a big victory by winning 66 of the 69 assembly seats.
There are six constituencies in Majha region where victory margin was between 25,000 and 43,000. Barring one, AAP registered big wins in all the remaining five seats. Ganieve Kaur Majithia is the only SAD leader to win by a margin of 26,062 votes.
In Doaba, there is only one seat where big margin was recorded and that was sham Charausi segment where AAP candidate Dr Ravjot Singh recorded a victory margin of 21,356 votes.
AAP recorded big wins in 11 constituencies – Budhladha, Mansa, Bathinda Urban, Bhucho Mandi, Dirba, Dhuri, Nabha, Patiala Rural, Shutrana and Gill. In Budhladha, AAP’s Aman Arora recorded a victory margin of 75,277, followed by Jagrup Singh Gill of AAP from Bathinda Urban (63,581), Dr Vijay Singla from Mansa (63,323 votes), Jagsir Singh of AAP from Bhucho Mandi (50,212), Harpal Singh Cheema of AAP from Dirba (50,655), Bhagwant Mann from Dhuri (58,206), AAP’s Gurdev Singh Dev Mann from Nabha (52,600), Dr Balbir Singh from Patiala (53,474), AAP’s Kulwant Singh Bazigar from Shutrana (51,554) and Jiwan Singh Sangowal from Gill (57,644).
Meanwhile, both Congress and SAD came second on 47 seats each while AAP was second at 10 places. BJP was second on eight seats, SAD Mann was second on two seats, Punjab Lok Congress, Akali Dal Sanyukt and an independent were at second place on one seat each.
Meanwhile, political scientist Suhas Palshikar said leadership or populist measures were not the primary factors behind the AAP’s victory in Punjab. “Disenchantment against the existing ruling parties was the major reason behind AAP’s feat,” he said.
Palshikar pointed out that 2022 was the AAP’s second attempt to secure power in Punjab.
For the first time, AAP’s four MPs got elected to Lok Sabha in 2014 from Punjab, not Delhi. In 2017, the AAP secured 20 seats and 23 per cent votes, bagging the honour of becoming an opposition party in its very first attempt.
So the party was not starting from scratch in Punjab, said Palshikar, who is a former professor of political science at the Savitribai Phule University, Pune.
Uttara Sahashrabuddhe, a political science professor at the Mumbai University, echoes Palshikar. “The kind of disillusionment against the established parties which was seen in Punjab was not seen in Goa,” Sahashrabuddhe said. “The way Amarinder Singh was sacked as the chief minister and internal squabbles too contributed to the Congress defeat,” she said. On the other hand, the AAP looked united. WITH PTI