According to the Axis MyIndia TV Today poll survey, the BJP may get between 2-4 seats, INDIA bloc 7-9 seats and AAP between 0-2 seats in Punjab.
The News 24 Today’s Chanakya gave four seats each to BJP and INDIA bloc, and two seats to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party.
The News 18 poll survey gave INDIA bloc 8-10 seats, AAP between 0-1 seats, and BJP between 2-4 while giving between 0-1 seats to others.
The Congress won three seats, SAD four and BJP one.
2019 Lok Sabha pollsThe BJP stormed to power, with 303 seats, but Punjab voted against NDA, with Congress winning 8 seats.
Continuing with the trend that it has adopted over the last six general elections, where Punjab preferred the party which has ended up in the Opposition benches, the state looks set to give most seats to the INDIA bloc, according to exit polls. Nearly all major exit polls also projected a big gain for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state, where the party is going solo for the first time since 1996 and is contesting all the seats, instead of the three that it used to fight in alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal. According to the Axis MyIndia TV Today poll survey, the BJP may get between 2-4 seats, INDIA bloc 7-9 seats and AAP between 0-2 seats in Punjab.
The News 24 Today’s Chanakya gave four seats each to BJP and INDIA bloc, and two seats to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party. It gave three seats to others.
The News 18 poll survey gave INDIA bloc 8-10 seats, AAP between 0-1 seats, and BJP between 2-4 while giving between 0-1 seats to others.
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A look at the previous six general elections in Punjab reveals that in almost all, barring the 1998 and 2009 elections, the state preferred the party or alliance which ended up in the Opposition benches in Parliament. A stark example is the state’s acceptance of the AAP, when it was still finding its feet in 2014, electing four of its MPs.
1998 Lok Sabha polls
At the time, the state was ruled by the SAD-BJP combine. The two parties worked out an alliance in 1996 and the following year, formed the state government in the state, winning 95 seats.
The 1998 elections was an exception when Punjab went with the winning party at the Centre. The SAD and BJP together won 11 of 13 seats in the state, with the BJP bagging 3. The other two MPs included former PM I K Gujral of Janata Dal and an Independent, Satnam Singh Kainth.
At the Centre, the BJP, with 182 seats, stitched an NDA coalition, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the PM. However, his government fell within months after J Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK, which had 18 MPs, withdrew support.
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Son of the then Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal, Sukhbir made his electoral debut in these polls. He won from Faridkot and was made Union MoS in the Vajpayee government.
1999 Lok Sabha polls
The NDA yet again formed the government under Vajpayee’s leadership, with same number of seats as the previous polls and this time went on to serve its full term. In Punjab, SAD and BJP together managed only 3, down from 11, despite a SAD-BJP state government.
The Congress tally increased from zero in 1998 to eight seats. An upset defeats was Sukhbir’s loss from Faridkot.
2004 Lok Sabha polls
Despite the India Shining campaign, the NDA lost and was replaced by the Congress-led UPA government under PM Manmohan Singh.
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This time too, the results were contrary in Punjab, with the Congress winning only two seats while the SAD and BJP won 8 and 3 seats, respectively. The state was ruled at the time by the Congress under Captain Amarinder Singh.
2009 Lok Sabha polls
This time, the UPA went into the polls with Singh as its PM face and won the polls, winning 206 seats. The BSP, JD(S) and RJD extended external support to the UPA government.
Even as the Parkash Singh Badal-led SAD government held the reins in Punjab, the state — in a second exception — voted for Congress, which won 8 seats in the state, largely due the projection of a Sikh PM face. The SAD won 4 while the BJP got one.
2014 Lok Sabha polls
The BJP secured a majority on its own under Narendra Modi, winning 282 seats as the Congress recorded its worst-ever show with 44 seats. In the state, the SAD-BJP alliance had formed the government in 2012 with Badal senior at the helm. The polls in Punjab, however, proved to be crucial for the AAP, which got a boost for its national ambitions, and won four seats – Sangrur, Faridkot, Fatehgarh Sahib and Patiala.
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CM Bhagwant Mann won his maiden election from Sangrur while Dharamvira Gandhi (then in AAP) emerged as the “giant killer” from Patiala, defeating then Congress candidate Preneet Kaur, the wife of Captain Amarinder Singh. The Congress won three seats, SAD four and BJP one.
2019 Lok Sabha polls
The BJP stormed to power, with 303 seats, but Punjab voted against NDA, with Congress winning 8 seats. For AAP, Mann was its sole candidate to win.
