Down but not out, BJP vote share goes up in Punjab

Jupinderjit Singh

Chandigarh, June 4

Though the BJP could not win any seat in Punjab, still it seems to have arrived on the state’s political scene by bagging third-highest vote share behind the Congress and AAP.

By getting three times more votes than the 2022 Assembly poll, the party insiders feel that the “trial run” of the Lok Sabha elections has been successful.

As the party’s vote share stands at 18.56 per cent, higher than its ally-turned-rival SAD, the BJP is in a position to contest the 2027 Vidhan Sabha poll on its own.

The BJP, however, would rue its inability to get support of the farmring community.

The increased vote share was possible due to the RSS, which especially targeted Mazhabi Sikhs in rural areas. The BJP sought votes in the name of Ram Temple and nationalism in urban areas.

The rural-urban divide in the votes polled was witnessed in Bathinda seat. Of 1,10, 255 votes polled by the party, nearly 50 per cent were from urban areas, including Bathinda (City) and Mansa.