E-Paper
In dismal Punjab show, BJP takes heart in vote-share spike
Of the 117 assembly segments, the saffron party remains at the top in 23 seats and most of them are urban constituencies.
The Lok Sabha poll results have shown a clear polarisation of Hindu vote in Punjab where the BJP, though scoring no seat, got a record 18.56% vote share for the first time. The party was ahead in 23 out of the 117 assembly segments. An analysis of the assembly-wise segments reveal that the party has proved to be a formidable force in at least 35 segments dominated by Hindu, urban and semi-urban voters. Its vote share was 5% more than that of the Shiromani Akali Dal.
The assembly seats where the BJP shone include Abohar, Balluana, Jalandhar Central, Jalandhar North, Rajpura, Dera Bassi, Patiala, Ludhiana East, Ludhiana South, Ludhiana Central, Ludhiana North, Ludhiana West, Amritsar Central, Amritsar East, Ferozepur City, Mukerian, Dasuya, Hoshiarpur, Sujanpur, Bhoa, Pathankot and Bathinda Urban.
Even as BJP’s Bathinda candidate Parampal Kaur (ex-IAS officer) stood fourth, she was ahead in Bathinda Urban because of the pro-BJP sentiments. In Mansa, another town dominated by Hindu voters, she got over 19,000 votes. The party stood second on seven seats in Jalandhar West, Amritsar West, Jalandhar Cantonment, Fazilka, Anandpur Sahib, Sahnewal and Dinanagar.
In the assembly seats like Mohali (36,001 votes), Kharar (40,391), Gill (30,154), the BJP made its strong presence felt, falling short of just a few votes than what was received by those ranking first and second.
Further analysis shows that the BJP got a good number of votes in the areas having sizeable Hindu vote bank, like Nabha (22,198), Batala (22,674), Gurdasur (21,954) and Moga (26,091) votes. Overall, the BJP has scored over 20,000 votes more than others in 46 segments of the state.
Even in Sikh-dominated seats like Khadoor Sahib, considered a Panthic seat, BJP candidate Manjit Manna got more votes than what the Shiromani Akali Dal got in Patti, Kapurthala, Sultanpur Lodhi and Baba Bakala assembly constituencies.
An internal assessment of the party, done after the Lok Sabha polls, also revealed that it won those booths in semi-urban and small towns like Nakodar, Shahkot, Faridkot and Kotkapura and many others where Hindu voters’ presence was high.
Even as Ram Temple and “Modi magic” are considered the factors behind the polarisation in favour of the BJP, the biggest contribution is said to be the anger against the farmer protests in Punjab.
As the farmer unions continuously disrupted the BJP candidates’ campaign in rural areas, the BJP, under a well-crafted strategy aiming at business-dominated Hindu community, in the last week of the campaigning started hitting out at the farmer unions, accusing them of disrupting business and economy of the state. State BJP chief Sunil Jakhar targeted the farmer leaders for their “self-styled vigilantism”. When contacted, Jakhar said Hindu polaisation would not be right word to describe the trend. “Had there been polarisation, we would have won the seats like Gurdaspur and Anandpur Sahib where Hindus are over 50% of the electors. The response the BJP got was due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the counter-effect of the farmer protests. The way farmer unions deliberately hindered BJP candidates’ campaigns, it resulted in a counter-consolidation for us. The business community, irrespective of religion, is unhappy over the way these unions have hampered their businesses,” Jakhar added.
