SAD-BJP lose vote share, Congress gains in Punjab

Despite attaining absolute majority in Punjab, the Shiromani Akali Dal and its ally Bharatiya Janata Party lost its vote share in comparison to Congress which failed to live up to its expectations in the poll results of the 117 member assembly.

The father-son duo of Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh Badal succeeded in convincing the Punjab electorate to give 56 seats to the SAD, but they failed to raise the party's vote share as compared to its tally in 2007 polls.

While the SAD's vote share in this elections declined to 34.75 per cent as compared to 37.09 per cent in 2007, its ally BJP's vote share also came down to 7.13 per cent as against 8.28 per cent in the previous hustings.

The vote percentage of SAD fell by 2.34 per cent whereas its ally BJP's vote percentage dropped by 1.15 per cent. The Congress, which garnered 46 votes, however managed to increase its vote percentage. The Congress party's vote percentage rose to 40.90 per cent from 40.11 per cent – an increase of 0.79 per cent.

The prime factor that had an impact on vote share of SAD, BJP and Congress appeared to be the newly floated Peoples Party of Punjab by Badal's estranged nephew and former state Finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal.

The party, which contested the polls in alliance with the Left, registered a vote per cent of 5.17. Left parties CPI and CPI(M), however, seems to be disappearing from the political scene as the vote share of both the parties fell drastically this time as compared to 2007 polls.

While CPI fell from 3.31 per cent to 0.82 per cent, the CPI(M) dropped from 2.25 per cent in 2007 to 0.16 per cent in 2012 polls. The vote percentage of CPI and CPI (M) fell by 2.49 per cent and 2.09 per cent, respectively.

In the present house, the number of Independents came down from six to three but their vote share of 417 Independents in fray this time increased by 0.06 per cent from 6.82 in 2007 to 6.76 per cent this year.

The BSP, which had remained a non-entity in Punjab polls, had its vote share increased from 4.13 per cent to 4.30 per cent -- a rise by 0.17 per cent. The party failed to open its account in the 117 member assembly.