Punjab Assembly election results 2017: Congress victory, Captain's birthday gift

Chandigarh: It was a hard-fought battle for Congress in Punjab, which for the first time saw a triangular contest, as the Aam Aadmi Party made its maiden outing in the state. The grand old party proved most pollsters wrong and achieved a comfortable win by securing 77 seats out of 117. The halfway mark is 59.

Captain Amarinder Singh, who turned 75 on Saturday, couldn't have asked for a better birthday gift. He won the Patiala urban seat by a huge margin of over 52,407 votes. Amarinder also recorded the highest winning margin in the state and bettered his margin of 42,318 secured in 2012 Assembly polls.

Read: Assembly election results 2017: BJP sweeps UP, U’khand; Cong returns in Punjab

"We hope Union Government will recognise demands of Punjab and assist us," he said after his win.

"Drugs menace in the state will be my first priority as far as governance is concerned. As far as development is concerned, health and education will be my priority. Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party is like summer storm which has come and gone without making any difference," he added.

Read: Uttar Pradesh Assembly election results 2017: A historic landslide for BJP

Singh however lost in the Lambi Assembly constituency, where Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal defeated him by 22,770 votes. Badal polled 66,375 votes while Congress candidate Amarinder Singh secured 43,605 votes. AAP candidate Jarnail Singh was at the third spot, securing 21,254 votes.

This is party’s best performance since 1992, when it secured 87 seats and the also its second best show of strength since the reorganisation of the state in 1966. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Amarinder Singh to congratulate him on the party's electoral victory in Punjab.

Read: Uttarakhand election results 2017: BJP rides Modi wave, annihilates Cong

The anti-incumbency wave proved to be fatal for the SAD-BJP combine, which finished third in the race with 19 seats to their credit. The drug menace was one of the biggest poll issues in the state and repeated seizures of illegal drugs in the state caused a dent in the Akali Dal’s image.

AAP, which was tipped to be the dark horse, could not come anywhere close to the victory it dreamed of, but its foray into the political arena in Punjab further scuttled the chances of the Akalis. It secured victory in 22 seats.

Disappointed by its performance, AAP leaders said that they would review what went wrong. "We are disappointed with the results. We will introspect on the reasons behind the (poor) performance," senior AAP leader Ashutosh said.

Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, who kept everybody in suspense about which side he would bat for, emerged as one of the biggest beneficiary, as his decision to join the Congress paid off.

“Kejriwal lost the polls because his intentions were not right. This is not just the victory of Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, but the victory of every Congress worker. It’s my promise, that we will make Punjab an example of good governance,” Sidhu told the media.

Let us take a look at the exit poll predictions:

India Today-Axis predicted a Congress victory with 62-71 seats. It projected 42-51 for AAP and 4-7 for SAD-BJP.

Today’s Chanakya predicted a tie between Congress and AAP by projecting 54 seats for both the parties.

Similarly News X-MRC predicted a tie between Congress and AAP by indicating that they’ll get 55 seats each.

India TV C-Voter put its money on AAP by giving the party 59-67 seats, while projecting 41-49 seats for the Congress.

How Punjab voted in 2012

The Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP combine came to power in Punjab in 2012 for the second term, winning 68 of the 117 seats. The total vote share of the combine was around 42 per cent.

The Congress won 46 seats with a vote share of nearly 40 per cent, while Independents got 3.

In 2014 General Elections, The Aam Aadmi Party won 4, the SAD-BJP alliance 4 and Congress’ UPA 3 – down from 8 in 2009.