Punjab: The Punjab Lok Sabha elections are going to be a four-way fight as all the four equal parties namely Shiromani Akali Dal, Congress and BJP along with the ruling Aam Aadmi Party have decided to fight on their own. As a result, the whole country will be paying attention to which party will win in Punjab in the result of 13 Lok Sabha seats.
In September 2020, farmers in northern India staged an intense sit-in on the highway bordering New Delhi to protest against three oppressive agricultural laws imposed by the Modi government. The Shiromani Akali Dal withdrew support from the central government in support of the farmers in this struggle that lasted for seven months. Harsimran Kaur-Badal, the wife of party leader Sukhbir Singh Badal, hastily resigned from the post of Union Minister. Even though Prime Minister Narendra Modi made promises to the farmers during the dharna movement, he did not fulfill them. Therefore, the Shiromani Akali Dal, angry with the Modi government, decided to leave the NDA alliance. After that, the alliance with BJP was also broken for the last 28 years. In the wake of the Lok Sabha elections, there were negotiations between the leaders of both the parties regarding seat allocation, but no compromise could be reached.
The Shiromani Akali Dal has demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi release prisoners serving long life sentences on charges of murder and terrorism in Punjab jails. However, he rejected it. Therefore, the alliance between these two parties has ended and BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal have decided to fight on their own. There, the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress, which are united in the India Alliance, decided to fight a friendly contest by fielding candidates against each other. Therefore, these four parties have come face to face for the first time in the Lok Sabha elections.
Punjab has a total of 13 Lok Sabha seats namely Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Khandursahib, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Anandpur Sahib, Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib, Faridkot, Ferozepur, Bathinda, Sangrur and Patiala. Voting will be held here in the last seventh phase on June 1. Aam Aadmi Party first announced the list of eight candidates for this election. It includes five cabinet ministers of the state. Punjabi actress Karamjit Anmol from Faridkot, Dr. Balbir Singh has been nominated from Patiala and Gurmeet Singh Meet from Sangrur. Kuldeep Dhaliwal is trying his luck from Amritsar, Gurmeet Singh Khundian from Bathinda and Laljit Singh Bhullar from Khandursahib constituency. Gurupreet Singh has got nomination from Fatehgadsahib. AAP also announced the candidature of Sushilkumar Rinku, who won the 2023 by-election in Jalandhar. However, Rinku left AAP and joined the BJP. AAP nominated Rajkumar Chhabbewal from Hoshiarpur and Malvinder Singh Kang from Anandpur Sahib in another list.
BJP has also announced the list of six of its 13 candidates. Ravneet Singh Bittu, who recently joined the BJP from the Congress, has been nominated from Ludhiana, while AAP's existing MP Preneet Kaur has been nominated from Patiala. Sufi singer Hansraj Hans, who was elected from West Delhi last time, has been fielded by the BJP from Faridkot. Sushilkumar Rinku, who came to BJP despite AAP announcing ticket, is again contesting from his Ludhiana constituency. Dinesh Singh Babbu is in the fray from Gurdaspur. Former US ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu has been nominated by BJP from Amritsar.
As the talks of alliance with 'AAP' failed, the Congress party is going to field candidates on all 13 seats. However, Congress has not announced its candidate list yet, taking a 'wait and watch' role. Shiromani Akali Dal is also looking for strong candidates against 'AAP', Congress and BJP. On the whole, all the four parties in Punjab have prepared to face the election with full strength, and the whole country will be watching the result of the four-way contest in this state.
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