Punjab Assembly Election 2022: The political slug fest between the major parties in Punjab ahead of the state Assembly elections is getting interesting with every passing day. In 2017, the people of Punjab reimposed their faith on Amarinder Singh paving way for the Congress party to usher back to power with thumping majority. The party won 77 of the 117 Assembly seats. The election saw a triangular fight with a new entrant, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), coming into the State’s political arena.
However, in September last year, the Punjab Congress was embroiled in a crisis that also saw former chief minister Amarinder Singh stepping down from his post. He has now formed his own party Punjab Lok Congress and is set to contest the elections from all 117 seats in alliance with the BJP.
With the term of current assembly ending in March, the election commission announced the dates for the assembly elections. The voting for the 117-members assembly will be held one phase on February 14, 2022. The counting of the votes will take place on March 10, 2022, announced the chief election commissioner.
Before the state casts its ballot, India’s most trusted news channel, Zee News conducted National’s last opinion polls with DesignedBox to sense the mood of the people of the state. According to the survey, the state is heading to a hung assembly with AAP and Congress are projected to win 36-39 and 35-38 seats respectively.
Here are some of the big takeaways from the survey:
- Zee Opinion Predicts Hung Assembly for first time in Punjab
- AAP to emerge as single largest party with 36-39 seats
- The survey predicts a massive lose in the vote share of the Congress party
- Opinion Poll predicts 35 to 38 seats for the Grand Old Party
- Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) likely to win 32-35 seats
- The Bharatiya Janata Party is likely to grab 4 to 7 seats
- In Malwa, AAP will gain in vote share and emerges ahead of Congress
- Shiromani Akali Dal ahead of Congress in Majha region
- Shiromani Akali Dal fares well in Doaba region with 9-10 seats
- Incumbent Chief Minister Charajit Singh Channi emerges as most preferred choice for the top job
- 69 is the majority mark in Punjab and no party seems to be close as per Zee Opinion Poll
Here’s the complete schedule for Punjab assembly polls:
- Issue of notification: January 21
- Last date of notification: January 28
- Scrutiny of nomination: January 29
- Last date of withdrawal of candidature: January 31
- Date of poll: February 20
- Counting of votes: March 10
“As Covid cases soared in view of Omicron variant, ECI held meetings with Union Health Secretary & Home Secretary, experts, and health secretaries of States. After taking these views and ground situation, ECI decided to announce polls with safety norms in place,” said the chief election commissioner said in the press conference.
