Punjab Elections: BJP Releases First List Of 34 Candidates; 'doctors, Lawyers, Farmers...'

Jan 21,2022

Amid hectic campaigning from all concerned to win in Punjab, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released its first list of 34 candidates for the upcoming Assembly polls. Out of 34 candidates in the first list, 12 are from farmer families, 8 from the Scheduled Caste category and 13 are from the Sikh community. 

"The list has doctors, lawyers, sportspersons, farmers, youth, women, and former IAS," said Party General Secretary Tarun Chugh. Also, present were General Secretary of the party Dushyant Kumar Gautam and Union Minister and party's co-incharge for assembly elections Hardeep Singh Puri. 

READ | Punjab elections: BJP's Tarun Chugh questions AAP's missed call campaign to choose CM face
"The people of Punjab are suffering from misgovernance. Years ago, drug addiction, corruption and many other problems had cropped up in the state, unfortunately even today those problems remain the same. No progress has been made in Punjab under the previous government," said Gautam, clearly spelling out that the BJP would work towards solving these problems. The party is contesting the elections in alliance with the Punjab Lok Congress led by former CM Captain Amarinder Singh and the SAD (Sanyukt).

Punjab elections 2022
The Election Commission of India on January 8 had announced the dates for the Punjab Assembly elections 2022 which will be held on February 20 to elect 117 members of the 16th state Legislative Assembly.

In the last Assembly elections in 2017, the Indian National Congress bagged 77 out of 117 seats, leaving the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance behind in the third place with 18 seats. AAP was second with 20 seats and became the official opposition in the state. Polling in Punjab is scheduled to be held on February 14 and the counting of votes will take place on March 10.

With less than a month to go for the assembly elections in Punjab, the Republic TV-PMARQ Opinion Poll has presented a snapshot projection of where the various parties stand at the moment in the state. Of the number of parties in fray like Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, Punjab Lok Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Opinion Poll has made a promising projection for AAP. 

For Punjab, which goes to the polls in a month, the Opinion Poll projects that AAP may bag 50-56 seats (37.8 %) of the total 117 seats, Congress 42-48 seats (35%), SAD 13 to 17 seats (15.8%), BJP 1-3 seats (5.7%) and others 1-3 seats (5.6%).