Punjab Assembly elections, 1,304 candidates in fray

The state will witness a multi-cornered contest among Congress, AAP, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-BSP alliance, BJP-PLC-SAD (Sanyukt) alliance, and the Sanyukt Samaj Morcha, a political front of several farmer bodies which took part in the year-long agitation against the now-repealed Farm Laws.

Hyderabad: Punjab will go to polls in the high-stakes single-phase Assembly Elections today after a gruelling period of campaigning by the political parties in the border state that saw allegations and counter allegations hogging the limelight than the actual issues on the ground. The fate of 1,304 candidates, including 93 women, will be decided by over 2.14 crore voters in 117 constituencies today.

There are a total of 2,14,99,804 voters, including 1,02,00,996 women, who will vote at 24,740 polling stations, of which 2,013 have been identified as critical. Polling will commence at 8 am and end at 6 pm. The counting of votes will take place on March 10. Adequate security arrangements have been made for ensuring free and fair polling, an official said. In the wake of elections, the state government has declared a paid holiday for employees working in shops, commercial establishments and factories today. In the 2017 Punjab Assembly polls, the Congress had ended the SAD-BJP combine’s 10-year-regime by bagging 77 seats. The AAP had managed to get 20 seats while the SAD-BJP had won 18 and two seats went into the kitty of the Lok Insaaf Party.

The campaigning led by the BJP's top brass Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Aam Admi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal came to an end on Friday. The state will witness a multi-cornered contest among Congress, AAP, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-BSP alliance, BJP-PLC-SAD (Sanyukt) alliance, and the Sanyukt Samaj Morcha, a political front of several farmer bodies which took part in the year-long agitation against the now-repealed Farm Laws.

Key Candidates

Among the key candidates in the fray today are Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi (Chamkur Sahib constituency), Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu (Amritsar East constituency), and former Chief Minister and Punjab Lok Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh (Patiala constituency). Also, there is SAD's Bikram Singh Majithia who will take on Sidhu from the Amritsar East seat, Sukhbir Singh Badal will contest from the Lambi constituency. while AAP Chief Ministerial candidate Bhagwant Mann is contesting the polls from the Dhuri Assembly seat.

The AAP has emerged as a strong challenger to Congress which is seeking to retain power in the state. Congress which initially struggled in dealing with the bitter feud between Channi and Sidhu tried to put a united front while announcing Channi as their Chief Ministerial candidate. The two leaders hugged each other on stage in presence of Rahul Gandhi.

The ruling party in Punjab has been targeted by the Opposition over corruption, law and order, and drug smuggling in the state. It is hoping to capitalize on the state government's decisions such as reducing electricity tariffs and fuel prices taken during the 111-day tenure of Channi.

The AAP on the other hand is upholding its Delhi model of governance in its campaign. However, the party is being targeted by both Congress and BJP over former AAP leader Kumar Vishwas' allegation against Kejriwal of "having plotted to become the Prime Minister of an independent country of Khalistan in the previous 2017 elections".