New Delhi: The ruling Shiromani Akal Dal(SAD)-Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) seemed to be headed for a slender majority in Punjab. The SAD-BJP combine is likely to retain power in Punjab belying history which has not seen the incumbent returning to power in the last 46 years.
The SAD-BJP alliance has won 46 seats, while Congress won 40 seats in the 117-seat Punjab Assembly.
The counting for the 117-seat Punjab Assembly began at 8 am on Tuesday and as per the trends, the SAD-BJP alliance was ahead in 62 seats and the Congress recovered some lost ground with 52 seats. Others were leading in just three seats as trends came in for all 117 seats. The trends were somewhat similar to the post-poll survey, which projected a close fight in the state.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal have won from Lambi and Jalalbad respectively.
Punjab Congress President Amarinder Singh retained Patiala constituency by defeating SAD's Surjit Singh Kohli by a margin of 42,318 votes, while his son Raninder was trailing by 1630 votes from Samana Assembly constituency.
Congress has won the seats of Talwandi Sabo, Amritsar Central, Rajpura, Nabha and Patiala, while the SAD has won Balchaur, Attari, Faridkot and Ghanuar and the BJP Amritsar East.
Punjab BJP President Ashwani Sharma won from Pathankot defeating his nearest Congress rival Raman Bhalla by a margin of 17,586 votes.
Navjot Kaur, wife of BJP MP from Amritsar Navjot Singh Sidhu, has won from Amritsar (East) constituency, defeating her nearest rival and Independent candidate Simarpreet Kaur by a margin of 7,099 votes.
Manpreet Badal's Punjab People's Party-led Sanjha Morcha failed to make any impact in the polls as it was not in a winning position from any seat.
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal's estranged cousin Manpreet Badal lost from both Gidderbaha and Maur seats, finishing third in both the seats.
From Balachaur constituency, SAD's Nand Lal beat Shiv Ram Singh of BSP by a margin of 14,857 votes, while from Rajpura seat Hardial Singh Kamboj of Congress beat BJP's Raj Khurana by a margin of 31,510 votes.
From Faridkot, SAD's Deep Malhotra beat Avtar Singh Brar of the Congress by a margin of 2,727 votes and SAD's Harpreet Kaur beat Madan Lal Jalalpur of Congress by a margin of 1,778 votes from Ghanaur.
Sadhu Singh of Congress won from Nabha (SC) constituency defeating his nearest SAD rival by a margin of 22,548 votes.
Congress' Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu bagged the Talwandi Sabo assembly seat, while O P Soni of Congress won from Amritsar Central, defeating his nearest rival Tarun Chugh of the BJP by a margin of 12,797 votes.
SAD's Nand Lal beat Shiv Ram Singh of BSP by a margin of 14,857 votes from Balachaur assembly constituency, while Gulzar Singh Ranike of SAD beat Tarsem Singh of the Congress by a margin of 4,983 votes from Attari (SC) seat.
From Jaitu (SC) seat, Joginder Singh of Congress defeated Gurinder Singh of SAD by 6,342 votes.
From Dakha, Manpreet Singh of SAD defeated Jasbir Singh Khangura of Congress by a margin of 16,338 votes.
Harmeet Singh Sandhu retained his Tarn Taran seat defeating Congress' Dharamvir Agnihotri by a margin of 4,621 votes.
SAD suffered a jolt from Sultanpur Lodhi in Kapurthala district when senior leader and Minister Dr Upinderjit Kaur lost to Navtej Singh of the Congress, who won by a margin of 4,298 votes.
From Adampur constituency in Jalandhar district, Pawan Kumar Tinoo of SAD defeated his Congress rival Satnam Singh Kainth by a margin of 19,306 votes.
Former Indian Hockey captain and SAD candidate Pargat Singh won from Jalandhar Cantt by defeating Congress rival Jagbir Singh Brar by a margin of 6,798 votes.
From Sahnewal assembly constituency near Ludhiana, Sharanjit Singh Dhillon of SAD won by a margin of 21216 votes over Congress' Vikram Singh Bajwa.
From Barnala, Congress' Kewal Singh Dhillon retained the seat defeating Malkit Singh Kittu of Congress by a margin of 5,522 votes.
Amritsar West was bagged by Raj Kumar of Congress who beat BJP's Rakesh Gill by a margin of 11,591 votes.
Khadoor Sahib (SC) seat went to Congress' R S Sikki who defeated SAD's senior leader and sitting MLA from Navshera Panuan, Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, by a margin of 3,054 votes.
From Mohali, Balbir Singh Sidhu defeated SAD's Balwant Singh Ramoowalia by a margin of 16,756 votes.
Gurdaspur went to SAD's Gurbachan Singh Babbehali who retained the seat defeating Congress' Raman Behl by a margin of 21,570 votes.
From Kartarpur segment, Sarwan Singh of SAD beat Jagjit Singh of Congress by a margin of 823 votes.
Kotkapura in Faridkot district was won by Mantar Singh Brar of the SAD who defeated Congress' sitting MLA Ripjit Singh Brar by a margin of 18186 votes.
Rampura Phul in Bathinda was won by SAD's senior leader Sikander Singh Maluka, who defeated sitting MLA Gurpreet Singh Khanger of Congress by 5136 votes.
Punjab's Revenue Minister, Ajit Singh Kohar, sitting MLA from Lohia, defeated Col (retd) CD Kamboj of Congress from the Shahkot assembly segment by a margin of 5,435 votes.
From Jalandhar Central, BJP's senior leader and former Minister, Manoranjan Kalia won by a margin of 1,065 votes over his Congress rival Rajinder Beri.
Anandpur Sahib went to BJP when senior leader Madan Mohan Mittal defeated Kanwar Pal Singh of Congress by a margin of 7,886 votes.
From Phagwara, Som Prakash of the BJP defeated Balbir Kumar Sodhi of Congress by a margin of 14,579 votes.
Congress is contesting all 117 seats, while SAD 94 and BJP 23. In the last election SAD had won 50 seats, Congress 42, BJP 19 and independents 06.
The fate of 1,078 candidates, including 93 women and 417 independents, will be decided on Tuesday. Voting was held in the state January 30.
There are 52 counting centres across the state.
Nearly 78 per cent of the 17.6 million voters in the state exercised their franchise Jan 30. The voting percentage was an all-time record in assembly polls in the state.
The ruling SAD-BJP alliance has been battling allegations of corruption, farmers' issues and unemployment. A third front, Sanjha Morcha, which was formed recently and is led by former finance minister Manpreet Badal's People's Party of Punjab (PPP), added a new dimension to the state's politics.
This may come as a setback for Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh who had said the 'non-governance and corruption of the ruling state government' have favoured them.
On the other hand, Punjab deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal was confident about retaining power and Parkash Singh Badal will retain the post of the state's Chief Minister. It is also possibly the last electoral fight for Parkash Singh Badal, who is one of India's oldest politicians.
(With additional information from PTI)
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