The saffron brigade in Punjab is gearing up to contest the ensuing elections — bye election to Sangrur parliamentary constituency and four municipal corporations — all alone.
Facing a resounding defeat in the recently concluded state assembly polls — which it contested as the “big brother” in alliance with former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s nascent Punjab Lok Congress and Akali stalwart Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa’s SAD (Sanyukta), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) now wanted to test political waters alone.
The state BJP unit, under the leadership of Punjab BJP in-charge Dushyant Gautam and state president Ashwani Sharma, held a brainstorming session on Wednesday to discuss the impending polls. In the meeting, the leaders have arrived at a consensus that the BJP should contest the elections on its own, instead of in alliance with Capt Amarinder Singh or any other party.
Dushyant Gautam, after the meeting, said that the party was preparing to contest Sangrur parliamentary seat bypoll, and four corporation polls alone, and the final decision will be taken by the central leadership which will be accepted to all.
Sangrur Lok Sabha seat fell vacant after two-time MP Bhagwant Mann was elected from Dhuri assembly segment, and went on to become the Chief Minister. A day before taking oatah, Mann resigned from the Lok Sabha seat.
Besides, the four major municipal corporations — Jalandhar, Amritsar, Ludhiana and Patiala — are scheduled to go to polls by the end of this year.
As BJP has a considerable support base in these cities, it wanted to contest polls on its own.
Despite winning just two seats out of total 73 it contested in February 20 elections this year, BJP is looking at the silver lining — increase in its vote share, its expansion in Punjab where it has all along been playing a second fiddle to the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), and foraying into unexplored territories.
In 2017, the party won three seats out of 23 it contested with a vote share of 5.3 percent, which this time (in 2022), has increased to 6.6 percent — witnessing an increase of 1.3 percent. Moreover, 74 percent of the BJP’s 73 candidates, that is 54, lost its security deposits.
The two candidates who managed to wade through Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) wave were BJP state president Ashwani Sharma, who defeated Congress’s sitting MLA Amit Vij in Pathankot by a margin of 7,759 votes; and Jangi Lal Mahajan, who defeated AAP’s Gurdhian Singh Multani by securing 2,511 more votes.
“Our main focus was 2024 elections. This election, BJP made a new beginning in Punjab. All these years, we were depending on Akali Dal, but through this election, we started afresh. After all the opposition we faced in Punjab due to the farmers’ agitation, securing 6.6 percent votes is a good sign. We had 5.3 percent vote share in 2017 when we contested with SAD. So, it’s a good sign and we are going to expand our base further,” a senior BJP leader told The Pioneer, requesting anonymity.
During a year-long farmers’ agitation against the Centre’s controversial farm laws, now repealed, BJP leaders faced immense opposition, and protests for 18 months. Its leaders were not allowed to hold any political activity in Punjab, even restricting their free movement.
In run up to assembly polls, BJP’s top leaders, including the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, gave the much needed boost to the party’s campaign.
