BJP to contest in 65 seats in Punjab as final list out; Amarinder's outfit to field candidates in 37 constituencies

NEW DELHI:  The BJP-led coalition for the Punjab elections announced its final list on Monday. Party president J P Nadda with BJP getting the maximum number of seats. 

Of the total 117 seats in the state, BJP gets 65 seats, while Amarinder Singh’s Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) will contest in 37 seats, and the Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa-led Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) will field candidates in 15 seats. 

BJP president J P Nadda announced the seat sharing agreement at a press conference at the Delhi BJP headquarters in the presence of Punjab Lok Congress supremo Amarinder Singh and Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa.

Later in a tweet, Nadda wrote, “Punjab needs special attention. Security is a very important issue. This election is for stability and safety. Our motto is to bring back Punjab on track.”

The state had been witnessing major political turmoil since the end of 2021 which led to the resignation of the then Congress CM Amarinder Singh in September last year.

Later Amarinder floated the new political outfit. The Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party has already declared Bhagwant Mann as its CM face.

The elections in the state will be taking place in a single phase with casting of votes scheduled on February 20. It was earlier fixed for February 14 but was postponed.

The counting will be done on March 10 with the results coming out the same day. 

In 2017, it was Congress which had won 77 out of the 117 seats after defeating the erstwhile ruling alliance of the Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP pushing them to the third place with only 18 seats.

The AAP became the official opposition in the assembly by ranking second largest party by winning 20 seats.