Punjab Legislative Assembly election, 2017

Punjab legislative assembly election, 2017

January 2017 (2017-01)

All 117 seats to the Vidhan Sabha 59 seats needed for a majority   First party Second party Third party   Leader Parkash Singh Badal Amarinder Singh TBA Party SAD + BJP INC AAP Alliance NDA Leader since March 2007[1] November 2015[2] Last election Won (56 + 12) seats, Contested (94 + 23) seats 46 seats Party did not exist Percentage 34.73% + 7.18% 40.09%

Chief Minister before election Parkash Singh Badal SAD + BJP Elected Chief Minister TBA TBA

Legislative Assembly elections are expected to be held in Punjab in 2017, before the end of the current tenure of the Punjab Legislative Assembly. The current ruling coalition is Shiromani Akali Dal - Bharatiya Janata Party alliance^[3][4] led by Parkash Singh Badal.

Background

Electoral process changes

In April 2016, the Election Commission of India revealed about 8 lakh bogus votes of state being cancelled in the past one year and over 7 lakh youngsters who have attained the age of 18 this year were yet to get registered. One constituency in every district will be chosen for trial run of Voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines used along with EVMs.^[5] Election Commission also decided to set up new polling stations if the number of voters was more than 1200 in rural areas and 1400 in urban areas.^[6]

Political developments

The 2014 general election was held in Punjab for 13 parliamentary constituencies. Shiromani Akali Dal and Aam Aadmi Party won 4 seats each, Congress won 3, and 2 constituencies elected Bharatiya Janata Party candidates. The first-time contesting Aam Aadmi Party won from 34 of the total 117 assembly segments, coming second in 7, third in 73 and fourth in the rest 3 segments.^[7] Wherever it trailed the major parties its vote share was mostly bigger than the margin of victory of the winning candidate, turning forthcoming elections into three-cornered contests.^[8]

Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party

The previous election, held in 2012, resulted in a majority of seats being won by ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party and Parkash Singh Badal became Chief Minister of Punjab.

Aam Aadmi Party

In December 2015, Aam Aadmi Party declared that it would contest the Legislative Assembly elections in 2017.^[9]

Indian National Congress

The Congress will take part in the elections under the leadership of Amarinder Singh, and the party has hired poll strategist Prashant Kishor for campaigning.^[10][11]

Bahujan Samaj Party

The BSP being the fourth largest party in Punjab after improving its vote share in 2012 elections^[12] started preparations for 2017 early by launching Punjab Bachao Abhiyaan from 1 November 2014.^[13] In 2012, BSP came second from Balachaur Vidhan sabha seat with 21943 votes.^[14] On 15 March 2016, Mayawati during a mega-rally in Nawanshahr on the birth anniversary of BSP founder Kanshi Ram in Punjab attacked SAD-BJP government as 'anti-Dalit' and Arvind Kejriwal as a “baniya” who had “always worked against Dalit and Scheduled Caste people” before he became Delhi CM.^[15] Mayawati also declared that BSP will contest Punjab 2017 elections on its own in all 117 seats.^[16][17] BSP declared that it will root out the drug menace from the state within a month of coming to power in Punjab.^[18] In 9 June 2016, BSP national president Mayawati supported the film on Punjab drug abuse Udta Punjab, saying there is 'nothing wrong' in it.^[19] In May 2016, BSP launched Pind Pind Chalo, Ghar Ghar Chalo campaign, a door-to-door driveto cover 29 million people across 550,000 households with Punjab Bachao, BSP laao (Save Punjab, elect BSP) as its main slogan as well as the overall theme of the campaign.^[20] BSP formed 65 teams for around 15,000 big and small rallies as well as seminars to be conducted in the state. Party also announced 10 percent reservation for the poor upper castes if BSP government comes to power in Punjab.^[21] BSP Punjab unit started social media campaigning^[22] and also visited NRIs for support in Vienna,^[23] Europe and North America.^[24] On 16 May 2016, Ambedkar Sena Punjab merged with BSP.^[25] Gurmel Chander, former president of The SC & BC teachers employees Union, joined BSP on 25 August.^[26] On 25 September 2016, BSP announced list of nine candidates for 2017 Punjab assembly elections.^[27] On 25 September 2016, Avtar Singh Karimpuri was replaced with Rashpal Singh Raju as BSP Punjab state President as former was declared Vidhan Sabha candidate from Phillaur.^[28][29] Karimpuri’s entry in Phillaur constituency spiced up political battle in the seat.^[30] Karimpuri said that the Punjab congress does not want an alliance with the BSP, rather its agenda was to wipe out BSP from Punjab in the 2017 assembly elections.^[31] New BSP President Rashpal Raju announced Mega-rally in Phagwara on 9 October Parinirvana divas of BSP founder Kanshi Ram.^[32] At this rally Avtar Singh Karimpuri and Dr Megh Raj attacked Shiromani Akali Dal and Congress as Anti-Sikh parties.^[33]

Aawaaz-e-Punjab

This is the new party formed by Navjot Singh Siddhu and others. It is expected to give strong competition to the other parties.

Election issues

There are several election issues like unemployment & lack of skills, farmers' crises, continually failing economy, sifarish (patronage & influence peddling & nepotism), unbridled crime and the role of goons in day-to-day matters of the citizen,^[34] road rage & accidents,^[35] Atrocities against Dalits^[36][37][38] and dalit land issues in Sangrur area,^[39][40] the 1984 anti-Sikh riots^[41] and the supply of drugs & addiction to them.^[42][43][44] Punjabi Non-resident Indians (NRIs) play a major role in elections.^[45]

Caste and religion data

As per the 2011 census, 57.69% of the state's population follows Sikhism, making Punjab the only Sikh majority state in India.^[46] Hindus form 38.5% of the population, while Muslims, 1.93%; Christians, 1.3%; Buddhists, 0.12%; and Jains, 0.16%.^[47] Dalits (Scheduled Castes) constitute 31.94% of the population, the highest percentage amongst all the states.^[48] Other Backward Classes (OBCs) like -Sainis, Sunar,^[49] Kambojs, Labanas, Tarkhans/Ramgarhias, Gurjars, Kumhars/Prajapatis, Telis, Banjaras, Lohars^[50][51] constitute 20%- 25% of the population.^[52][53] Jat-Sikhs comprise 21% of the population ^[54] while other forward castes (general category) - Brahmins, Khatris/Bhapas, Bania, Thakurs/Rajputs constitute around 20%. As of 2016, Government of India has not publicly released Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011 caste population data for every single non-SC/ST castes (General castes, OBC/EBCs) in India.^{[55][56][57][58][59]}

Population by faith in Punjab, India (2011)

  Sikh (58%)

  Hindu (38.5%)

  Muslim (1.9%)

  Christian (1.3%)

  Others and non - religious (0.60%)

Schedule

Elections will most probably be held in January 2017, to select the 117 members of the Punjab Legislative Assembly. Consequently, the results of the election are likely to be announced in March 2017.

Opinion polls

See also

• Politics of Punjab, India

References

External links

• Statistical Report on 2012 Punjab Legislative Assembly Elections