SAD-BJP lose vote share; Cong gains in Punjab - Hindustan Times
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SAD-BJP lose vote share; Cong gains in Punjab

PTI | By, Chandigarh
Mar 07, 2012 06:07 PM IST

The SAD-BJP combine which stormed to power in Punjab for a second consecutive term on Wednesday lost their vote share in the state assembly polls which saw the Congress gaining in terms of vote percentage despite failing to live upto its expectations.

The SAD-BJP combine which stormed to power in Punjab for a second consecutive term on Wednesday lost their vote share in the state assembly polls which saw the Congress gaining in terms of vote percentage despite failing to live upto its expectations.

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SAD-BJP alliance got absolute majority in the 117 member state Assembly winning 68 seats (SAD-56, BJP-12) this time as against 67 seats ( SAD-48, BJP-19) five years back.

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The Congress would remain in the opposition as the party could win only 46 seats even though it improved its performance by two seats as compared to 2007.
The strength of the Independents has gone down in the state assembly to three from six five years back.

Though both Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Singh Badal succeeded in convincing the Punjab electorate to give the SAD 56 seats, they failed to raise the vote share of the party as compared to what the main regional party of the state had got in 2007 polls.

While SAD's vote share in this elections declined to 34.75% as compared to 37.09% in 2007, its ally BJP's vote share came down to 7.13% this time as against 8.28% in the previous hustings.
The vote percentage of SAD fell by 2.34% whereas its ally BJP's vote percentage dropped by 1.15%.

The Congress, which garnered 46 votes, however, managed to increase its vote percentage. The Congress party's vote percentage shot up from 40.90% to 40.11% an increase in 0.79%.

The prime factor which impacted on the vote share of SAD-BJP alliance and the Congress appears to be newly floated Peoples Party of Punjab (PPP) by Badal s estranged nephew and former finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal.

The party which contested the polls in alliance with the Left registered a vote per cent of 5.17.
However, the Left parties - CPI and CPI (M) - have got the worst hitting as the vote share of both the parties fell drastically this time.

While CPI's vote share fell from 3.31% to 0.82%, the CPI (M) dropped from 2.25% in 2007 to 0.16% in 2012 polls.

The vote percentage of CPI and CPI (M) fell by 2.49 and 2.09% respectively.

In the present house, the number of Independents came down from six to three but their vote share increased by 0.06% from 6.82 in 2007 to 6.76% in 2012.

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

Heavy polling in the border state has always benefited the SAD which has got back to power for the fourth time following 70% polling.

Punjab, this time witnessed a record 78.21% of the 1.77 crore voters sealing the fate of 1,078 candidates, including 93 women.

Since 1951, the January 30, 2011 polling in Punjab for the 117 assembly seats had for the fourth time crossed the 70% - 78.21%.

The Congress has always been unlucky in case of heavy polling. A look at the data of the Election Commission on polling percentages after Independence from 1951 to 2007, it had been revealed that Akalis had formed the government if the polling in assembly elections exceeded 70%, which has happened thrice earlier.

The state had earlier witnessed over 70% polling in 1967 (71.18%) 1969 (72.27%) and 2007 (75.45%) following, which the SAD wrested power.

Even in case of polling between 65 and 70%, it was the Akalis who had gained the maximum in the border state.

The polling exceeded 65% on six occasions and again the Akalis romped home to victory on four occasions in 1972 (68.63%), 1977 (65.37%), 1985 (67.53%) and 1997 (68.73%) while in remaining two 1972 (68.63%) and 2002 (65.14%) the Congress returned to power.

The Congress had wrested power in case of polling being less than 65% as was evident in 1951 (57.85%), 1957 (57.72%), 1962 (63.44%) and 1980 (64.33%).

It was the slender margin between winner and loser on as many as ten assembly constituencies of Punjab that played a key role in political parties position after the final outcome of results of 117 members house.

There were ten total assembly constituencies in Punjab where the margin between the winner and loser candidate of political parties is less than 1000 with the lowest being just 31 votes.

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