Punjab, which voted for all its 13 Lok Sabha seats in the seventh and the final phase on June 1, is likely to be a repeat of 2019 for the Congress, which is expected to emerge as the biggest party.
The News18 Mega Exit Poll expects the Congress to get 8-10 seats. The BJP, which contested the Lok Sabha elections in the state on its own after 25 years, is projected to get two to four seats. The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is likely to get 0-1 seat.
The BJP’s former partner Shiromani Akali Dal is expected to draw a blank as it struggles to stay relevant in the farm state.
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Punjab is one of the states where the INDIA bloc partners the Congress and the AAP contested on their own. If the numbers hold, the decision seems to have worked well for the Congress but not to so well for the AAP.
The two parties fought the Delhi elections together, with AAP fielding candidates on four and the Congress three seats.
The 13 constituencies of Punjab are Amritsar, Anandpur Sahib, Bathinda, Faridkot, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ferozepur, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Khadoor Sahib, Ludhiana, Patiala, and Sangrur.
ALSO READ: Punjab Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Key constituencies and candidates
Past elections
Under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, the BJP experienced a resurgence, securing a good number of seats in both the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In 2014, the BJP-SAD alliance emerged as the dominant force in Punjab, winning six seats. While the SAD secured four seats, the saffron party won two. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) made a notable debut, winning four seats, while the Congress managed to secure only three seats.
In the 2019 elections, the political landscape shifted, with the Congress winning eight seats. The SAD and BJP secured two seats each, while AAP obtained one seat.
2024 opinion polls
According to the News18 Mega Opinion Poll, the opposition Congress was expected to secure seven seats and the SAD two. The India Today Group's Mood of the Nation poll suggested a different trend, with both AAP and Congress predicted to win five seats each, and the BJP two.
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