Guwahati: Counting of votes began at 8 am today for 117 assembly seats in Punjab, where a sweeping victory is expected for the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), predicted not just by multiple exit polls but also clearly visible in election trends.
Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal met with his party’s chief ministerial candidate Bhagwant Mann in Punjab as election result trends showed the party winning in the state. This win would give the Aam Aadmi Party, or AAP, its first chance at running a full state unlike Delhi, which is a Union Territory.
AAP’s Punjab CM face Bhagwant Mann has won the election from the Dhuri constituency.
The AAP is leading in 90 seats, while the Congress is behind with 18 in the 117-member house. The BJP won 2 seats, while the Shiromani Akali Dal won 6, the early trends show.
“Many congratulations to the people of Punjab for this revolution,” Mr Kejriwal tweeted, along with a photo of Mr Mann and him showing the V for victory sign.
इस इंक़लाब के लिए पंजाब के लोगों को बहुत-बहुत बधाई। pic.twitter.com/BIJqv8OnGa
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) March 10, 2022
The result for the election and predicted an AAP triumph in the state. Leads are tipping decisively in AAP’s favour in Punjab, where they have already surpassed the halfway majority mark.
Punjab’s former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh — who won the 2017 Assembly elections for Congress by a massive margin — lost his constituency, Patiala Urban, to AAP rival Ajit Pal Singh Kohli. Other major political heavyweights like Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Congress State President Navjot Sidhu, are also trailing behind AAP candidates in their constituencies.
AAP, positioning itself as an agent of change, designed its poll campaign this time round to encourage people to vote for “badlav” (change), and targeted the traditional political parties for “looting” the state. These parties are the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Congress, who have alternatively been forming the government in Punjab ever since 1966.
The state, which has over 2.14 crore eligible voters, went to polls on February 20 and recorded a voter turnout of 71.95 per cent — its lowest in comparison to the past three assembly elections in Punjab. There were 1,304 candidates in the fray
