Punjab Election Results 2017: Captain gets perfect birthday gift from voters

Congress leads on 71 seats in Punjab as at 11:35 am, set to win comfortably

Amarinder Singh, CM candidate of Congress in Punjab

Last Updated : Mar 11 2017 | 12:03 PM IST

Former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh turned 75 on Saturday. And, he could not have expected to get a better birthday gift from the electorate: Latest trends at 11:40 am show his party leading in 71 of the state’s 117 Assembly seats.

In what he has already declared his last elections, besides Patiala, Singh also contested from Lambi, making a statement by challenging Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on his home turf. At 11:40, Singh was leading in Patiala, but trailing in Lambi.

Giving a boost to the Congress’ prospects, former Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Navjot Singh Sidhu also crossed over to join Captain’s party. On the Amritsar (East) seat, from where Sidhu contested, he was leading comfortably.

For Punjab, the Congress had also roped in politcal strategist Prashant Kishor, whose team made strategy for the party’s campaign and introduce various programmes to woo people from different walks of life.

The Congress rode high on the issue of drug menace and unemployment, targetting the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance.

Captain had vacated his Lok Sabha seat of Amritsar to focus on the Vidhan Sabha election campaign. His family also criss-crossed the state, spreading a strong message around Singh’s vision.

The trends so far are also a setback for the Aam Aadmi Party, which was confident of winning the state, and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who had spent a fair amount of time attacking the SAD-BJP.

There was an anti-incumbency wave against the SAD-BJP government, which had been in power in the state for 10 years. Now, the SAD-BJP alliance and AAP are fighting for a second position and are in neck-and-neck contest.

Having lost state after state since ceding power to Delhi Assembly in 2013, the Punjab Assembly election results 2017 come as a good news for the Congress. The party had in 2015 contested Bihar elections in alliance with the Janata Dal (United) and Rashtriya Janata Dal and formed the government in the state.