BJP biggest gainer, AAP major loser in vote share from Ludhiana

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, June 5

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which contested the Lok Sabha elections alone for the first time since 1996, remained the biggest gainer while the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which had won 13 of the total 14 Assembly seats in Ludhiana and 92 seats in Punjab in 2022, turned out to be the biggest loser in vote share from Ludhiana during the General Election to the 18th Lok Sabha held on June 1, the results of which were declared on June 4.

While the vote share of the state’s main Opposition Congress, which won Ludhiana for the record fourth consecutive time while fighting separately from AAP, despite both parties being part of the INDIA bloc at the national level, also went up considerably.

The result figures declared by Returning Officer Sakshi Sawhney, a copy of which is with The Tribune, showed that both the winner Congress and the runner-up BJP improved their vote shares while AAP, which ended poor third, remained the major loser.

The official result data revealed that Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, who was elected from Ludhiana after defeating his nearest rival friend-turned-foe turncoat three-time sitting MP of the BJP Ravneet Singh Bittu by a decent margin of 20,942 votes, secured a vote share of 30.42 per cent by polling 3,22,224 votes, including 3,21,424 EVM votes and 800 postal ballots.

It was up from 22.6 per cent vote share that the Congress had secured from Ludhiana district in the 2022 Assembly poll, when it had for the first time in the electoral history, had lost all 14 Assembly seats in the state’s biggest and largest district, in terms of area and population.

However, the Congress vote share in this election was less than 37.1 per cent it got in the 2019 parliamentary elections and even lower than 34.2 per cent vote share it secured in the 2017 Assembly poll in Ludhiana.

While the Congress vote share this time was better than 27.3 per cent votes it had polled in the 2014 LS elections, the 2024 show was much poorer than the 2012 Assembly and the 2009 parliamentary polls when the party had got 39.8 per cent and 53.1 per cent votes, respectively.

The runner-up saffron party recorded its highest ever vote share of 28.45 per cent in Ludhiana this election, which was over three-times than 13.4 per cent votes it had polled in the 2022 Assembly poll.

Though the BJP lost this election from Ludhiana even after securing convincing lead in five of the total nine Assembly segments under this predominantly urban general parliamentary seat, the rise in its vote share was phenomenal as compared to 7.8 per cent and 11.7 per cent votes the party had polled here in the 2017 and the 2012 Vidhan Sabha polls, respectively.

Ruling AAP candidate Ashok Parashar Pappi, who had demolished the Congress citadel Ludhiana Central, which had been represented by the Congress ever since its inception in 2012, by defeating the then three-time Congress MLA Surinder Kumar Dawar in the 2022 Assembly elections, lost in all nine Assembly segments, including his own seat, this time. It was despite the fact that eight of these nine Vidhan Sabha seats were won by AAP in the 2022 Assembly poll.

The AAP vote share this election nosedived to 22.38 per cent, which was almost half than 42 per cent votes the Arvind Kejriwal’s party had polled in Ludhiana in the 2022 Vidhan Sabha elections.While this time’s AAP vote share was slightly better than 21.8 per cent votes it had polled in the 2017 Assembly poll, the ruling party’s performance this time was even poor than the 2014 LS elections when it had got 25.5 per cent votes in the district.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which had won the previous 18 LS elections held here since 1952, got its lowest-ever vote share of 8.52 per cent this time.

The regional party’s candidate, former MLA Ranjit Singh Dhillon, who was among the 40-odd nominees who even lost their security deposits by failing to poll one-sixth of the total polled votes, secured just 8.52 per cent vote share, which was almost half than 15.6 per cent votes the party had got in the 2022 Assembly poll when it had till then put up its worst-ever show in Ludhiana district by winning only one of the total 14 Assembly seats.

The SAD’s vote share this time was manifold less than 28.9 votes it had polled here in the 2019 LS elections, 18.3 per cent in the 2017 Assembly poll, 23.3 per cent in the 2014 LS elections, 26.7 per cent in the 2012 Vidhan Sabha poll, and the highest 39.6 per cent vote share that the Sukhbir Badal’s party had secured in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections in Ludhiana.

When it comes to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), its vote share of 0.98 per cent this time was more or less similar to 0.9 per cent and 0.8 per cent votes the party had polled here in the 2017 Assembly and the 2014 LS polls. However, the late Kanshi Ram’s outfit had got 3.2 per cent and 3.9 per cent vote share in the 2012 Vidhan Sabha and the 2009 LS elections.