Chandigarh, March 10: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is set to form the government in Punjab as after the final round of counting the party has secured 92 out of 117 seats by decimating the congress which is reduced to 18 seats. In a ajor setback to Congress and SAD, their biggest leaders Navjot Singh Sidhu, Charanjit Singh Channi, Bikram Singh Majithia and Sukhbir Singh Badal have lost polls in their seats. Amarinder Singh of the Punjab Lok Congress, who fought the polls with the BJP, also lost.
The 117-member Punjab Assembly which went to the polls on February 20 in a single phase witnessed a multi-dimensional fight between Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) as key players. On March 10, the Election Commission of India (ECI) began the counting of the votes from 8 am and start publishing the results of the Punjab Assembly Election Results 2022 on its website and app.
According to several exit polls, Arvind Kejriwal's AAP is leading in Punjab and all set to form the new government. Some of the high-profile candidates who contested the Punjab Assembly Elections include Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Channi, Former CM Captain Amarinder Singh, AAP's CM candidate Bhagwant Mann, and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu among others. Punjab Assembly Election Results 2022: ‘Exit Polls Should Be Banned’, Says Shiromani Akali Dal Chief Sukhbir Singh Badal.
Arvind Kejriwal's AAP is heading for a landslide win in Punjab with leads in close to 90 seats in the 117-seat assembly. The ruling Congress is trailing with 13 seats.
इस इंक़लाब के लिए पंजाब के लोगों को बहुत-बहुत बधाई। pic.twitter.com/BIJqv8OnGa
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) March 10, 2022
Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu said he humbly accepts the mandate of the people after his party loses assembly elections in Punjab. Sidhu is trailing against Jeevan Jyot Kaur from Amritsar East.
The voice of the people is the voice of God …. Humbly accept the mandate of the people of Punjab …. Congratulations to Aap !!!
— Navjot Singh Sidhu (@sherryontopp) March 10, 2022
Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi has called a meeting of the state cabinet at 11:30 am on Friday. Channi is trailing from both his seats- Chamkaur Sahib and Bhadaur.
Captain Amarinder Singh loses from Patiala. AAP's Ajit Pal Singh Kohli leading by over 13,000 votes in Patiala.
Shiromani Akali Dal patron Parkash Singh Badal trailing from Lambi constituency of Punjab.
On the election day, Punjab recorded a voter turnout of 65.50 per cent, which is comparatively lower than the voter turnout of over 77 per cent in 2017. As per the Election Commission's data, Mansa recorded the highest voter turnout of 77.21 per cent followed by Sri Muktsar sahib with 74.12 per cent while Ludhiana recorded a lower voter turnout of 60.29 per cent.
During the 2017 Assembly polls, Congress managed to overthrow the SAD-BJP government after they won an absolute majority by winning 77 seats of the 117. Aam Aadmi Party emerged as the second-largest party winning 20 seats while the ruling alliance of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and BJP could only manage to win 15 and 3 seats respectively.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 10, 2022 08:00 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).