Congress took the lead by winning 40 of the seats, which was higher than 32 it had won in 2012 Assembly elections, and SAD could claim only 8 seats
If Malwa region steered Congress to victory with 40 of the total 69 seats in favor of the party, it was Majha region which is the centre of Sikh politics, where the party made a clean sweep decimating AAP and rounding off SAD to mere two seats.
The state is divided into three regions Malwa, Majha and Doaba. Over half of the 22 districts in Punjab are included in the Malwa region and all Chief Ministers of the state has been from the region. With total 69 of the 117 seats in Malwa, the region has turned to be a game-changer in all the elections, which explains why the new entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) may have made its focal point in Mansa.
But the region where AAP expected to make the maximum gains left the party to face its most crushing disappointment. It won only 18 seats and witnessed defeat of its star MP Bhagwant Mann from Jalalabad who drew crowds from other districts in his rallies. The staggering number of audience in his rallies did not translate into votes.
Congress took the lead by winning 40 of the seats, which was higher than 32 it had won in 2012 Assembly elections, and SAD could claim only 8 seats.
But it was Majha region, the citadel of Sikh panthic politics where Congress which has been perceived as anti-Sikh made the maximum political gain. The party won 22 out of total 25 seats, which has been its best bet in last three elections. In 2007, Congress won only 3 seats in Majha, which increased to 8 in 2012 Assembly elections. The party had managed to rope in cricketer-turned politician Navjot SIngh Siddhu who fuelled the party campaign from Amritsar. Belonging to Jatt Sikh community, Siddhu is perceived to have a clean image and wields influence in Amritsar where he had been an MP for a decade.
AAP was decimated in Majha region as it could not even a single seat. Despite its aggressive campaign against SAD leader, Bikram Singh Majithia, the party could not give tough fight in Majitha constituency which is also in Majha region.
SAD was reduced to two seats and its alliance partner, BJP faced set back due to resentment against demonetization and infighting in the local camp and won only one seat. Its senior leader Anil Joshi also conceded defeat from Amritsar.
In the Dalit stronghold of Doaba, Congress made a comeback and won 15 out of 23 seats, resisting any affect of AAP which managed to stake claim to only two seats. SAD had won 11 seats from Doaba in 2012 but was limited to only 5 seats.
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