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Assembly, where the halfway mark is 59. A handful projected a hung Assembly in Punjab, the lone poll-bound state where the Congress is in power, with an edge for the AAP.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which struck an alliance with Captain Amarinder Singh-led Punjab Lok Congress and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa-led Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt), has been predicted to be limited to single digital tally. Same is the case with the Shiromani Akali Dal which has an alliance with Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

The Assembly elections 2022 in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Uttarakhand, and Manipur are being as the half-time preview of Lok Sabha elections 2024. The Punjab election result day is the same as that for the other states, this is March 10, 2022.

If the duo of Arvind Kejriwal and AAP Punjab CM candidate Bhagwant Mann does win the Assembly elections, this would be the AAP’s second major government formation after Delhi. Mann would also have to resign as Member of Parliament from Sagrur Lok Sabha seat. The party has also contested extensively in Goa elections 2022, and has also fought on seats in Uttarakhand polls and Uttar Pradesh elections, but was always seen as having the real shot in Punjab.

The Aam Aadmi Party has promised the Delhi model of development in elections in Punjab with heavy emphasis on health, education, water, electricity and outreach towards women with a monthly allowance for all above the age of 18. The party has also promised to create employment and provide an unemployment allowance for youth.

The Congress, meanwhile, is at yet another crossroads in Punjab. After a bitter build-up to Punjab polls with Amarinder Singh’s exit, Rahul Gandhi announced Charanjit Singh Channi as the Punjab CM candidate in a snub to state unit chief Navjot Singh Sidhu. If the Congress wins, its gamble would have paid off. If it loses the state, however, all eyes would be on Navjot Singh Sidhu’s next move. The Group of 23 who had rebelled against Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s style of leadership would also be keenly watched.

The most-watched candidates and constituencies in Punjab election 2022 are Charanjit Singh Channi (Chamkaur Sahib), Bhagwant Mann (Dhuri), Navjot Singh Sidhu (Amritsar East), Amarinder Singh (Patiala), Parkash Singh Badal (Lambi), Sukhbir Singh Badal (Jalalabad) and Bikram Singh Majithia (Amritsar East).

Apart from the farmers’ protest against now-repealed agri-marketing laws, major election issues in Punjab were sacrilege and drugs smuggling. The BJP made the unprecedented breach of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s security part of its campaign pitch on security in the border state.

In the last Punjab election, the Congress had won an absolute majority by winning 77 seats in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, ousting the SAD-BJP government after 10 years. The AAP had emerged as the second-largest party, winning 20 seats. The Shiromani Akali Dal won 15 seats, while the BJP, which had a coalition government with the Akali Dal in Punjab from 2007 to 2017, secured three seats.

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