Politics of the contemporary Indian state of Punjab (1967–present)
Politics in reorganised present-day Punjab is dominated by mainly three parties – Indian National Congress , Aam Aadmi Party and Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) .[ 1] [ 2] Since 1967, Chief Minister of Punjab has been predominantly from Jat Sikh community despite its 21 percent state population.[ 3] [ 4] [ 5] Exceptions are Giani Zail Singh , the Chief Minister of Punjab from 17 March 1972 to 30 April 1977 belonging to Ramgarhia community[ 6] [ 7] that has population of 6 percent and is a part of significant OBC community having population of 31.3 percent in the state and Charanjit Singh Channi who held the position for 111 days from 20 September 2021 to 16 March 2022 and was from Scheduled Caste(Dalit) who have 32 percent population in the state.[ 8] [ 9] Other prominent party is Bahujan Samaj Party especially in Doaba region [ 10] [ 11] [ 12] [ 13] founded by Kanshi Ram of Rupnagar district .[ 14] In 1992 BSP won 9 seats Vidhan Sabha elections .[ 15] Also BSP won 3 lok sabha seats from Punjab in 1996 general elections [ 16]
[ 17] and only Garhshanker seat in 1997 Vidhan Sabha elections .[ 18] Communist parties too have some influence in the Malwa area .[ 19] In the 2014 general elections , the first-time contesting Aam Aadmi Party got 4 out of 13 seats in Punjab by winning 34 of the total 117 assembly segments, coming second in 7, third in 73 and fourth in the rest 3 segments.[ 20] The support for the Aam Aadmi Party increased later in Punjab.[ 21] [ 22] The current Government was elected in the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections and the AAP won 92 out of 117 Assembly seats with Bhagwant Mann as the Chief Minister. The Congress flows down to get only 18 seats.
Before 1947 partition of Punjab , politics were dominated by Unionist Party as it was main party in united Punjab especially seen in 1937 elections .[ 23] [ 24]
During 1947-1966 Punjab was undivided and consisted of present-day Punjab , Haryana , Himachal Pradesh ,
and Chandigarh .[ 25] This meant that both population and religion factor of whole state was mixed and politics were dominated by Indian National Congress .[ 26] [ 27] [ 28] [ 29]
Punjab has many political parties but only eight parties recognized by Election Commission of India and having presence in the state:
National parties in Punjab
Recognized state parties in Punjab
Other Parties
Alliances in Punjab
Punjab in Map of India [ edit ]
Punjab is situated in Northern India and shares its boundary with three states – Rajasthan , Haryana and Himachal Pradesh and with two Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Chandigarh . It also shares its border with Pakistan .
Punjab
The election Schedule will declare by Election Commission of India on the reasonable time.[ 34]
Last year election dates were announced on 4 January and polling was completed on 4 February 2017. Results were declared on 11 March 2017.
Punjab has 23 districts (Malerkotla is the 23rd District, carved out from Sangrur District in May, 2021) and is divided into 4 regions, having 117 total constituencies.
All the 23 districts of Punjab along with their headquarters.
Majha region have 4 district and 25 Assembly constituencies
Doaba is the smallest region with 23 assembly constituencies and 4 districts
Malwa is the biggest region with 15 districts (including 3 districts in Puadh region) and 69 assembly constituencies
34 seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes and Punjab have no reservation for ST community.
Legislative Assembly Seats Map [ edit ]
This year Punjab will see Major Fight between Indian National Congress , Shiromani Akali Dal and Aam Aadmi Party and Punjab Democratic Alliance .
34 Seats are Reserved for SC's and 83 are unreserved out of 117 assembly Constituencies of Punjab
Region and District wise list of Assembly constituencies [ edit ]
This map shows the Districts and Assembly constituencies in the District
Following is the list of parliamentary constituencies (PC) and assembly constituencies (AC) of Punjab:-
In Punjab each Parliamentary constituency consists Nine Assembly constituencies.
^ "HT Explainer: Three years short of 100, SAD's struggle for a comeback" . HindustanTimes . 15 December 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2018 .
^ "Punjab's tryst with destiny" . The Indian Express . 24 October 2016. Retrieved 14 August 2018 .
^ "Dalit votes to decide ruling party of Punjab" . India Today . Retrieved 23 August 2018 .
^ "Why only a Jat Sikh can become Punjab CM, questions ousted Cong leader - Times of India" . The Times of India . Retrieved 23 August 2018 .
^ Kumar, Pramod (11 January 2017). "The Punjab poll vault" . The Tribune . Retrieved 23 August 2018 .
^ "Ramgarhia Forum appeals CM Fadnavis for OBC status to Ramgarhia Sikhs in state" . nagpurtoday.in . 28 April 2016. Retrieved 23 August 2018 .
^ "Amarinder challenges CM Badal from Lambi - The Sunday Guardian Live" . The Sunday Guardian Live . 15 January 2017. Retrieved 23 August 2018 .
^ "Amarinder Singh cabinet has 3 Dalits despite 32 per cent vote share, Jat Sikhs continue to rule Punjab" . India Today . Retrieved 23 August 2018 .
^ "Punjab Congress faces rebellion over lack of representation for Dalits" . CatchNews.com . Retrieved 23 August 2018 .
^ "Punjab: In Doaba, BSP promoting 'Ambedkarite culture' to 'politically awaken' Dalits" . The Indian Express . 17 April 2019. Retrieved 8 August 2019 .
^ "Elephant emerges the dark horse in Punjab" . The Indian Express . 26 May 2019. Retrieved 8 August 2019 .
^ "BSP's Punjab Surprise: Three Candidates Finish Third, Fares Better Than AAP" . News18 . 24 May 2019. Retrieved 8 August 2019 .
^ "BSP gains in Punjab amid PDA thrashing" . The Times of India . 24 May 2019. Retrieved 8 August 2019 .
^ "Kanshi Ram and the Making of Dalit Political Agency" . Economic and Political Weekly . 56 (3): 7–8. 16 January 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2021 .
^ "Punjab Assembly Election Results in 1992" . Elections.in . 11 April 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2016 .
^ Roy, Meenu (1996). India Votes, Elections 1996: A Critical Analysis . Deep & Deep Publications. p. 198. ISBN 9788171009008 .
^ "Result Of Punjab In 1996" . Archived from the original on 23 November 2012.
^ "In 1997, the BSP won Vidhan Sabha seat of Garhshankar" . hindustantimes.com/ . 18 May 2013. Retrieved 21 May 2016 .
^ Kumar, P. "Coalition Politics in Punjab in E. Sridharan" (PDF) . Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 July 2016. Retrieved 21 May 2016 .
^ "Details of Assembly Segments of Parliamentary Constituencies - General Elections, 2014 - 16th Lok Sabha (page 946 of 1698)" (PDF) . Election Commission of India.
^ N, TN (20 May 2014). "Other party netas lining up for AAP" . The Times of India . Retrieved 21 May 2016 .
^ Mohan, Vibhor (21 May 2014). "AAP may face problem of plenty in choosing candidates for bypolls" . The Times of India . Retrieved 21 May 2016 .
^ Talbot, Ian (16 December 2013). Khizr Tiwana, the Punjab Unionist Party and the Partition of India . Routledge. ISBN 9781136790362 .
^ Low, D. A. (18 June 1991). Political Inheritance of Pakistan . Springer. p. 86. ISBN 9781349115563 .
^ Dhaliwal, Sarbjit (9 September 2016). "Punjabi Suba: What's there to celebrate?" . Tribuneindia News Service . Retrieved 14 August 2018 .
^ "Revisiting past elections..." Tribuneindia News Service . 30 October 2016. Retrieved 14 August 2018 .
^ "When Punjab & PEPSU merged" . Tribuneindia News Service . 6 November 2016. Retrieved 14 August 2018 .
^ "Kairon retains his hold on Punjab" . Tribuneindia News Service . 13 November 2016. Retrieved 14 August 2018 .
^ "A United Front pushes Congress to the Opposition Benches" . Tribuneindia News Service . 20 November 2016. Retrieved 14 August 2018 .
^ "List of All the Political Parties in India" . Jagranjosh.com . 16 April 2018. Retrieved 30 July 2018 .
^ "Recognition of 'All India Trinamool Congress, as a National party" (PDF) . ECI . Retrieved 17 September 2016 .
^ "Aam Aadmi Party recognised as state party in Punjab" . Deccan Chronicle . 3 June 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2018 .
^ "State Parties" . eci.nic.in . Retrieved 30 July 2018 .
^ Upcoming elections in India elections.in