Punjab elections: Congress wins 7 seats, AAP gets 3; BJP fails to open account

There was a four-way battle in Punjab.

The Indian National Congress (INC) won seven seats in the Punjab Lok Sabha elections, while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) improved its tally by winning three seats, showed election results on June 4.

The Congress had won eight seats in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, while AAP had won one, with the SAD party winning two seats each.

Notably, BJP, which had won two seats in the 2019 general elections, failed to open its account in the state.

In the current elections, the Congress won the Lok Sabha seats of Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib, Firozpur, Patiala and Gurdaspur.

Further, AAP won the seats in Hoshiarpur, Anandpur Sahib and Sangrur. Harsimrat Kaur Badal won the lone Lok Sabha seat for Shiromani Akali Dal of Bathinda in Punjab.

Among independent candidates, jailed Khalistani separatist Amritpal Singh won the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha seat, while Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa won the Faridkot seat.

Exit polls had predicted that the Congress party was expected to win 8-10 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

There was a four-way battle in Punjab as allies at the Centre from both ruling and opposition factions fought independently on all the 13 Lok Sabha seats.

The Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), allies within the INDIA bloc, ran individual campaigns, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) each contested the Lok Sabha elections independently for the first time since 1996.

In terms of party wise vote share in 2024 elections, Congress had the highest percentage at 26.30 percent. AAP came in second with a vote share percentage of 26.02. Notably, BJP, despite not winning a single seat was the third biggest party in terms of party-wise vote share with a percentage of 18.56 in Punjab.

Here are the latest trends from the Punjab Lok Sabha contest:

1. At 10.20 AM, Congress was leading in seven seats of Gurdaspur, Jalandhar, Firozpur, Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib, Patiala and Amritsar. AAP was ahead in Hoshiarpur, Anandpur Sahib and Sangrur, while the SAD party was leading in Bathinda.

2. At 11.20 AM, Congress was leading in the seats of Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib and Patiala. AAP was leading in three seats, while SAD was ahead on two seats.

3. Congress was leading in the seats of Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib, Firozpur and Patiala as of 12.30 PM. AAP was ahead in Hoshiarpur, Anandpur Sahib and Sangrur.

4. The Indian National Congress (INC) has won the Jalandhar Lok Sabha constituency and was leading in six other seats in the northern state of Punjab, showed latest election results trends at around 2.40 PM.

5. The Indian National Congress (INC) won two seats in Punjab Lok Sabha elections -- Jalandhar and Fatehgarh Sahib – and was leading in five other seats, showed latest election results trends at around 4 PM.

6. The Indian National Congress (INC) won five seats in Punjab Lok Sabha elections – Amritsar, Jalandhar, Fatehgarh Sahib, Firozpur and Patiala – and was leading in two other seats, showed latest election results trends at around 6.20 PM.

7. The Indian National Congress (INC) won six seats in the Punjab Lok Sabha elections and was leading in one, while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) improved its tally by winning three seats, showed election results trends at around 7.45 PM.

About Punjab elections

In 2019, Congress had won eight seats in the border state with a vote share of 40.13 percent, while BJP had won two seats with a vote share of 9.98 percent. Further, SAD had won two seats with a vote share of 27.45 percent, while AAP had won one seat on a vote share of 7.38 percent.

The 13 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state are Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Khadoor Sahib, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Anandpur Sahib, Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib, Faridkot, Ferozpur, Bathinda, Sangrur and Patiala.

A major industrial centre in Punjab, Ludhiana saw electoral battle between BJP's Ravneet Singh Bittu, Congress' Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Ashok Parashar Pappi of AAP.

In terms of Hindu Vote factors, there are six out of 13 seats having such influence. These six seats included Bathinda, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur.

Meanwhile, former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh’s wife Preneet Kaur who joined the BJP will be contesting the elections from Patiala. Kaur represented the constituency for the Congress earlier.

Also, the BJP fielded former Indian ambassador to the United States Taranjit Singh Sandhu from Punjab’s Amritsar for the Lok Sabha elections.