Election analysis - Punjab 2009
There are 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab. The two major political parties in the state are Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal. Both parties have there own vote banks. However Congress needs to perform better to retain their hold.
THE TOTAL number of seats in Punjab for Lok Sabha elections is 13. There are two major political parties which the public can choose from. These are Congress (President - Capt. Amarinder Singh) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) (President – Prakash Singh Badal – ally BJP)
Election result this year has been:
Congress: 8 seats
SAD: 4 seats
BJP: 1 seat
Punjab’s areas are divided. Both parties have strictly demarcated their domains and hence lead to development and progress of their “faithful” areas alone completely ignoring the rest. Hence the seats are won according to regions eg. Patiala district is in love with Congress, mainly because the party has done immense work in that district, whereas the Akali Dal are the favourite in the Malwa region where they have proved their mettle in governance (or one could say, in being biased and favouring their people ).
BJP: 1 seat
Punjab’s areas are divided. Both parties have strictly demarcated their domains and hence lead to development and progress of their “faithful” areas alone completely ignoring the rest. Hence the seats are won according to regions eg. Patiala district is in love with Congress, mainly because the party has done immense work in that district, whereas the Akali Dal are the favourite in the Malwa region where they have proved their mettle in governance (or one could say, in being biased and favouring their people ).
The Congress didn’t perform well in 2004 elections where they had won only 2 seats. They had also lost the state assembly elections but this year around they swept 8 out of 13 seats whereas SAD won just four and BJP won a single seat.
The SAD has been in power only for two years yet the people were determined to show their anger against their workings, since it is clear from the result of the elections that people in Punjab weren’t happy with the way the SAD was functioning.
Debacle happened because of the wrong doings of the government. There were mistakes in each and every department.
Debacle happened because of the wrong doings of the government. There were mistakes in each and every department.
Starting from providing free electricity to the farmers (which no doubt is good , yet is not possible when the state itself is buying electricity at Rs. 7 per unit from the central grid), the common man is paying about Rupees 6 per unit and the rest is taken up as loans. It definitely is creating problems since the Punjab state which was amongst the richest a few years ago is now in debts.
Not only this, the main problem with the Akalis has been their hunger and greed for power. Out of 13 seats in the cabinet 12 are of their own family members. Their aim of trying to monopolise the government has created a stir amongst the common people.
Each voter was offered money from the Akalis’ side, ranging from Rs. 200 to Rs.4000 depending on the region, to come and vote, which actually is a ridiculous phenomenon.
Division of seats in 2004
SAD – 8
BJP –3
Congress - 2 Division of seats in 2009
SAD : 4seats
BJP : 1 seat
Congress : 8 seats
Sukhbir Singh Badal has tried to be very autocratic. The Badals have aroused suspicion amongst the people since the time their amassed wealth came into the eyes of the public. With their property worth in hundreds of crores they were pitted against, the Congress or the so called royal family; ready to do good work for the poor in Punjab.
SAD – 8
BJP –3
Congress - 2 Division of seats in 2009
SAD : 4seats
BJP : 1 seat
Congress : 8 seats
Sukhbir Singh Badal has tried to be very autocratic. The Badals have aroused suspicion amongst the people since the time their amassed wealth came into the eyes of the public. With their property worth in hundreds of crores they were pitted against, the Congress or the so called royal family; ready to do good work for the poor in Punjab.
A few other mistakes done by this government were that they had taken over the Cable TV and started 6 new channels trying to promote themselves. This did lead to brainwashing as it is clear that a few people still do not understand these techniques and went ahead and voted for them. Not only this they also took over the transport industry in Punjab (called Orbit) without permit, minted money and paid no taxes at the right time.
Amarinder Singh said, “There is no harm in taking money from SAD to come and vote since it is your money, but be sensible enough to vote for Congress
Harsimrat Kaur said, “We belong to this area and will always be available to the people whereas Captain’s family came here only to contest elections.”
Harsimrat Kaur said, “We belong to this area and will always be available to the people whereas Captain’s family came here only to contest elections.”
They promised wheat at Rs. 2 per kg. which is highly impossible keeping in mind the inflation and condition of the rest of the Indians.
Not only these factors but another thing that contributed towards the Congress success has been the support from Dera Sacha Sauda (the religious group, whose leader Raja Rahim Singh was harassed and punished for dressing up like a Sikh guru by the SGPC -Shiromani Gurudwara Porbandak Committee which is entirely run by the Akalis) Hence when Rahim Singh persuaded his followers to vote for Congress, not many opposed.
Congress this time had better be careful and help in the overall development of the state rather than helping certain sections of the society. There is no denying the fact that the Akalis did do some good for the rural in Punjab but they forgot that in making their vote bank happy they were turning against the urban population which cost them heavily this time.
With young parliamentarians in the government this time, hopes are high that public will not be lured or fooled and that people in Punjab would be given their due privileges of belonging to the “food bowl of India” and one of the most prosperous states.
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