Amid the high-stake multi-cornered electoral battle for the 117-member Punjab Legislative Assembly, the early trends of the result on Thursday showed that the State was heading for a clear mandate in favour of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
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In Punjab, 59 is the majority seat mark and any party or alliance requires these many seats to stake a claim to form the government.
According to the Election Commission’s result trends at 10:15 a.m., the AAP was leading in at least 88 Assembly constituencies. The ruling Congress was ahead in 15 seats while the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) was leading in eight seats. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is leading in one seat and the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) in four seats.
As many as 1,304 candidates were in the fray. Voting was held on February 20 with a turnout of around 72%, the lowest since 2007 Assembly elections. The turnout this year was down by around 5% in comparison to the 2017 election when 77% voters exercised their franchise. In 2007, the turnout was close to 75% and in 2012 it was around 78%.
In the 2017 Assembly poll, the Congress registered a resounding victory by winning 77 seats. The AAP won 20 seats while the SAD finished third with only 15 seats to its credit. The BJP won three seats.