2017 Punjab Assembly Election - Polling will be held on Saturday Feb 04,2017 to elect the 117-member Punjab Assembly in a three-cornered contest

Polling will be held on Saturday to elect the 117-member Punjab Assembly in a three-cornered contest with Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP combine, which is battling anti-incumbency after a 10-year rule, locked in a tough contest with Indian National Congress(INC) and new entrant Aam Aadmi Party(AAP)

1.98 crore people will be eligible to vote in the high- stake election, the first after Modi Government's demonetisation move, in which 1,145 candidates, including 81 women and a transgenders, are in the fray.

Out of the total electorate of 1,98,79,069 in the state, there are 93,75,546 women and 415 transgenders.

22,615 polling stations have been set up across the state. While 83 Assembly seats are of general category, 34 have been demarcated as reserved.

Punjab is witnessing a three-cornered contest between ruling SAD-BJP alliance, Congress, and AAP, which has claimed that it will repeat its Delhi success where it swept the election in 2015.

The AAP, which had won four Lok Sabha seats in 2014, has plunged into the contest in a big way with its chief Arvind Kejriwal crisscrossing large parts of the state.

Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) has fielded its candidates in 112 seats, while its ally Lok Insaf Party, led by Ludhiana-based Bains brothers, have fielded nominees in five seats.

The Badal family came under fierce attack from AAP over alleged corruption, drug menace and law and order while the SAD-BJP and Congress accused AAP of flirting with extremists and targeted Kejriwal for being an "outsider".

AAP's Arvind Kejriwal, in turn, accused Congress Chief Amarinder Singh and the Badals of being hand in glove.

Apart from the drug menace, the contentious SYL canal issue and sacrilege of holy books of Sikhs were among the major issues flagged by the electoral rivals

The Assembly polls in Punjab are also seen as a test of Modi's popularity especially in the wake of demonetisation. BJP is, however, contesting only 23 seats in the state while its ally SAD has fielded candidates in 94 seats.

Over 200 companies (each comprising 80-100 personnel) of paramilitary forces have been deputed for the election in the state which saw a car blast barely two days before the campaign was to end in which six people were killed. Punjab police did not rule out the incident as an act of terror.

Punjab, where elections are being held today for the state's 117-member assembly, will see the fates of more than 1,100 candidates decided by nearly 20 crore voters. From Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal of the ruling Akali Dal, to lawmaker Bhagwant Mann, who is contesting for the Aam Aadmi Party, and Captain Amarinder Singh, former Punjab Chief Minister who is contesting for the Congress, the election will see several prominent politicians vying for the electorate's mandate. The results for the elections will be declared on March 11 along with four other states where polls will be held over the next two months.

HEAVYWEIGHTS

 

Const No	Const Name	Cand Name	Party
19003	Pathankot	Ashwani Kumar Sharma	BJP
19004	Gurdaspur	Sucha Singh Chhotepur	APP
19007	Batala	Gurpreet Singh Waraich	AAP
19013	Majitha	Himmat Singh Shergill	AAP
19013	Majitha	Bikram Singh Majithia	Akali
19017	Amritsar Central	Tarun Chugh	BJP
19018	Amritsar East	Navjot Singh Sindhu	Cong
19023	Patti	Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon	Akali
19051	Chamkaur Sahib	Charanjit Singh Channi	Cong
19061	Ludhiana South	Balwinder Singh Bains	LIP
19062	Atam Nagar	Simarjit Singh Bains	LIP
19068	Dakha	Advocate HS Phoolka	AAP
19079	Jalalabad	Bhagwant Mann	AAP
19079	Jalalabad	Sukhbir Singh Badal	Akali
19081	Abohar	Sunil Kumar Jakhar	Cong
19083	Lambi	Prakash Singh Badal	Akali
19083	Lambi	Capt. Amrinder Singh	Cong
19092	Bathinda Urban	Manpreet Singh Badal	Cong
19099	Lehra	Rajinder Kaur Bhattal	Cong
19111	Rajpura	Harjit Singh Grewal	BJP
19115	Patiala	General J J Singh	Akali
19115	Patiala	Capt. Amrinder Singh	Cong

Congress has fielded the highest number of candidates.

Congress: 116
Aam Aadmi Party: 112
SAD: 94
BJP: 23
BSP: 110

Big Fights

Lambi


SAD boss and Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal faces former Congress CM and Patiala royal Capt Amarinder Singh and AAP's Jarnail Singh in his pocket borough. One of the tallest leaders of the Sikhs, the senior Badal is fighting to retain his hold on the community as well. "Capt" is no stranger to big ticket
battles and had defeated the BJP's Arun Jaitley from Amritsar in 2014 Lok Sabhapolls. He is also contesting from his Patiala home turf.


Jalalabad



Deputy CM, Sukhbir Badal is also the party president. If SAD returns, Badal junior can take the credit. He faces some tough contenders in the fight — AAP's Bhagwant Mann and Congress's Ravneet Singh Bittu (grandson of slain Chief minister Beant Singh).




Amritsar East



Navjot Singh Sidhu assertively sought to play a bigger role in state politics and quit the BJP to join the Congress ahead of the polls, saying he was a "born Congressman". His wife was BJP's sitting MLA on this seat before both joined the Congress. Sidhu was the party's main crowdpuller in Majha.