The tsunami that swept the nation failed to wash the Congress off the political shores as Captain held on to his ship in Punjab, doubling the party’s tally by bagging eight of the 13 parliamentary seats.
But the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) peak performance in other parts of the country failed to help its allies, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). The state’s regional party was left high and dry in Punjab despite the “wave” as only the Badal couple managed to flow into the Parliament.
For the saffron party, it was performance as usual with the victory on two out of the three seats it contested in the State.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the surprise performer in 2014 elections, was relegated to one-man show in the Lok Sabha with its state unit president Bhagwant Mann emerging the solitary winner, while remaining 12 candidates even failed to secure their deposits.
A fourth front, a conglomeration of six political parties or splinter groups under the banner of Punjab Democratic Alliance (PDA), failed to make a mark despite having big names, including two sitting MPs and three legislators, in its list.
However, with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which contested on three seats as a part of the PDA, securing a considerable number of votes, indications of its resurgence in Punjab is in sight, with even Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh pointing at the same.
Unlike 2014 elections when AAP stunned the traditional political players, polls this time did not throw any surprises as the expected emerged as winners.
The SAD’s power couple secured a massive win in their bastions — party chief Sukhbir Badal from Ferozepur and Harsimrat Badal securing hattrick from Bathinda. Likewise, Chief Minister’s wife Preneet Kaur too wrest the citadel from the cardiologist-cum-social worker Dr Dharamvir Gandhi in Patiala, who was pushed to the distant third.
Besides, Congress’ sitting MPs — Ravneet Singh Bittu from Ludhiana, Santokh Singh Chaudhary from Jalandhar, and Gurjeet Singh Aujla from Amritsar — had comfortable victories, except party’s state president and Gurdaspur MP Sunil Jakhar who faced defeat from a political greenhorn and Bollywood action hero Sunny Deol.
REFERENDUM TO TWO-YEAR-OLD CONG GOVT
Carrying forward the momentum it gained in 2017 state polls, the Congress party managed to emerged as a winner with seven percent jump in its share as compared to the previous general elections — from 33 percent in 2014 to 40 in 2019 — giving a stamp of approval to the state government’s performance in these two years, besides a further boost to Capt Amarinder’s leadership.
In fact, the Congress’ gained from where AAP lost. AAP, which bagged four seats with 24.5 percent vote share in 2014, has been consigned to just one seat with its vote share falling down to just 7.37 percent. At the same time, the vote share of the SAD and the BJP was almost similar to what it was in 2014 — indicating clearly that Congress managed to fill in the vacuum AAP has created in these five years.
In addition, the Congress kept the issue of sacrilege and related firing incidents alive to use people’s anger against the SAD with the party winning on the panthic seats of Khadoor Sahib and Sri Anandpur Sahib, and also in Faridkot — which has been the epicentre of 2015 sacrilege incidents.
Even as the Congress performed badly across the country, Punjab was a saving grace with the party relegating the BJP-SAD combine to just four seats, despite the Modi wave.
BADALS’ WIN, SAD LOSES
Badals and Akali Dal have always been considered synonymous. But, the victory of its power couple did not pull the party out of the doldrums. The duo won, but the remaining eight candidates failed to taste the success.
Despite a marginal increase in its vote share, from 26.4 percent in 2014 to 27.49 percent in 2019, SAD’s tally has come down to just two, that too at a time when the nation was swept by Modi tsunami.
The mood in the SAD-BJP camp was that of celebrations after the announcements of results. But insiders agree that the results are sure to leave the senior party leaders thinking about a factor which they have all along been relegating to the trashcan of their thoughts — prevailing anger amongst the people on sacrilege issue.
SAD-BJP combine had believed that anti-incumbency against the Congress in the State and Modi factor across the nation is so strong that it, in no way, let the sacrilege and related firing issue come in its way towards victory. But, the results have proved it the other way.
Both Sukhbir and Harsimrat managed a win in their bastions. While political analysts are attributing Harismrat’s hattrick to considerably weak opponents coupled with a rumoured “political understanding”, Sukhbir’s victory is accredited to Ferozepur being a “safe” seat.
Nearly wiped out in 2017 elections, SAD’s strategy to lay its bet on the winning and trusted horses has failed to give desired results. Except the Badal couple, all senior leaders including Parminder Singh Dhindsa, Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra, Bibi Jagir Kaur, Gulzar Singh Ranike, Charanjit Singh Atwal, and Surjit Singh Rakhra, were made to bite dust.
As the party has fielded its senior leaders who are a known face among the state’s electors, sitting MPs and MLAs who have won the people’s mandate earlier, the party finished at the distant second spot with just two seats.
SEA OF SAFFRON
As the sea of saffron swept the nation, Punjab too was deluged by it — at least on the seats from where the BJP contested. BJP secured big wins in Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur, while losing Amritsar to the Congress’ sitting MP Aujla.
Political analysts attributed the victory more to the Modi factor, than to the candidates in fray.
Pulling out all the stops to take Bollywood action hero Sunny Deol on board — a decision which has not only gave the much-needed push to its campaign, but also that of the Akali Dal, the party wrested back Gurdaspur from the Congress’ Jakhar. In his first electoral hustings, Sunny won the seat by 77,009 votes.
BJP took everyone by surprise when it replaced its sitting Hoshiarpur MP and Union Minister Vijay Sampla with sitting MLA Som Parkash. However, the decision proved rewarding with BJP retaining the seat with 48,530 votes.
This win may give the saffron party a chance to further its chances for gradual gains in the 2022 state elections with Kartarpur Corridor serving as an ideal starting point.
MANN: AAP’s ONE MAN ARMY
history in 2014, AAP has been relegated to just one-man army this election with its popular face Bhagwant Mann being the lone candidate winning election out if three states, where the party contests the election.
AAP’s remaining 12 candidates lost their deposits on 12 of 13 seats — not even securing one-sixth, that is 16.6 percent, of the total votes polled.
Marred with defections and rebellion by its legislators, AAP has lost what it achieved in 2014. It emerged on the state’s political scene with a bang by winning four seats, but failed to maintain the same force in these five years.
In the next year, two of its MPs parted ways. Eight of its total 20 legislators rebelled, with two went on to form a new political outfit, two shifted their loyalties towards the Congress, while the remaining campaigned against the party while still being its part—that cist the party dear.
In 2017, AAP was seen as a possible alternative to the state’s traditional parties. But post 2017, it disintegrated with little patience. Now, party’s state unit chief Bhagwant Mann is leading a fight for party’s political survival, who only emerged as a winner. Capt Amarinder maintained that the party was “a close chapter now in Punjab”.
BSP’s REVIVAL
The 2019 election results show a sign of revival of the Bahujan Samaj Party with its candidates bagging a considerable number of votes — performing better than the candidates of the state’s principal opposition party, AAP.
In fact, Capt Amarinder too pointed at the number of votes polled to the BSP candidates — something to ponder over.
BSP, which contested on three seats under PDA banner, got 3.49 percent votes. All its candidates received more than one lakh votes, with one of its candidates crossing two-lakh mark — something which none of the AAP candidates, except Mann, could do.
Its candidate from Jalandhar, Balwinder Kumar, finished third getting 2,04,783 (20.1 percent) votes, while its candidate from Anandpur Sahib Vikram Singh Sodhi got 1,46,441 (13.54 percent) votes. Bureaucrat-turned-politician Khushi Ram, who contested from Hoshiarpur, bagged 1,28,215 (13.06 percent) votes.
At the same time, other PDA members failed to make a mark. Even as Lok Insaaf Party’s president and sitting MLA Simarjeet Singh Bains bagged 3,07,423 (29.36 percent) votes, it was not enough to beat Congress’ sitting MP Bittu.
His party colleague and social activist Manwinder Singh Giaspura, PDA candidate from Fatehgarh Sahib, bagged 1,41,969 (14.45 percent) votes. Surprise loss was of Bibi Paramjit Kaur Khalra, Punjab Ekta Party member, who could bag 2,13,550 (20.52 percent) votes, but finished third despite massive public support to the widow of human right activist Jaswant Singh Khalra.
