Punjab Elections 2022 Updates: SAD-BSP Alliance Will Win Over 80 Seats, Claims Sukhbir Badal

Punjab will head to polling booths on February 20, Sunday after months of hectic political action that saw a change of Chief Minister and unprecedented breach of the Prime Minister’s security. Political equations, too, changed dramatically in the state with Captain Amarinder Singh floating the new Punjab Lok Congress after walking out of the Congress over his acrimonious ouster from the top job. Amarinder Singh has now struck up an alliance with the BJP, which is fighting solo and trying to shed the shadow of the year-long farmers’ protest. READ MORE

Even as Punjab’s drug crisis rages, it has once again found the top spot among political issues in the assembly elections this time. All political parties have promised to resolve the state’s “drug problem” but little has been done to come up with concrete solutions. In the 2017 assembly elections, too, both Congress and AAP had promised action against the “drug syndicate”. Former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, in his election campaign, had taken an oath over the Gutka Sahib, a book of Sikh religious hymns, to “break the backbone of drugs” in the state in four weeks. This the promise for which Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu targeted him, but Captain has maintained that he did a lot to curb the drug problem in the state. READ MORE

On Guru Ravidass Jayanti this Wednesday, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal and its two-time MP and chief ministerial face in Punjab Bhagwant Mann prayed together at the famous Guru Ravidass temple before setting out to campaign together in Jalandhar. The duo not only sent a message to the politically significant 32% Scheduled Caste population in Punjab but also one of unity in AAP in the face of serious infighting within the state’s ruling Congress. READ MORE

A total of 1,304 candidates, including 93 women, are in the fray. The voting will take place from 8 am to 6 pm, said Punjab chief electoral officer S Karuna Raju. Among prominent candidates are Channi, Mann, Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, two former CMs Amarinder Singh and Parkash Singh Badal, and Sukhbir Singh Badal. Channi is contesting from two seats, Chamkaur Sahib in Rupnagar and Bhadaur in Barnala. Mann is contesting from Dhuri, which is part of the Sangrur parliamentary constituency, from where he is a two-time MP.

With little over two hours left for Punjab elections 2022 campaigning on Friday, the Congress put up a united front with Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi flanked by Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu and senior leader Sunil Jakhar. READ MORE

Chandigarh DSP Dilsher Singh Chandel files criminal defamation plea against Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu in court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, saying the politician had failed to tender unconditional apology for his comments against police during a rally in 2021.

AAP chief ministerial candidate Bhagwant Mann and Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu have “brighter future” in comedy, BJP leader and Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Friday in a swipe at them ahead of the February 20 assembly polls. READ MORE

Campaigning for the 117 assembly seats of Punjab came to an end on Friday evening even as political parties made last-minute efforts to mobilise support for their candidates ahead of the February 20 elections. The Congress released its manifesto earlier in the day, promising financial assistance for women, one lakh government jobs and creation of corporations for the sale of liquor and sand mining if it returns to power in the state. READ MORE

In a major setback to Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party days ahead of Punjab assembly polls, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has acceded the request of Charanjit Singh Channi government to probe the alleged connection between proscribed terror outfit Sikhs For Justice with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). In a letter on Friday, Shah said “any political party seeking help from a terrorist outfit in polls is against the sovereignty and integrity of the nation.” READ MORE

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday appealed to the people of Punjab to give the party-led alliance a clear majority for peace and prosperity in the state which goes to the polls on Sunday. Union Minister and the party’s Punjab affairs in-charge, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said his party has come with a vision and agenda for the development of Punjab, unlike the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party, which the saffron party claimed, are pursuing a divisive agenda. Shekhawat, along with the state BJP general secretary, Subhash Sharma, said, the BJP was fighting the Punjab elections as a major partner for the first time while earlier it used to contest only 23 seats. He appealed to the people to give the BJP-led alliance a clear majority for Punjab’s peace and prosperity.