DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday put on a brave face over the AAP's drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls, saying that the party has won three seats in the state compared to just one in 2019 and increased its vote share.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress dealt a blow to the ruling AAP and the opposition BJP and SAD, winning seven seats in the high-stakes polls in Punjab even as two independents registered a surprise victory.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) could win only three seats -- Anandpur Sahib, Hoshiarpur and Sangrur -- as against the target of winning all constituencies in the just-concluded elections.

Replying to a question on the AAP's performance, Mann said the party won only one seat in 2019 and its vote share was just 7.50 per cent.

"This time, we won three seats. We wrested the Sangrur seat, which is our stronghold," Mann told reporters in Mohali after offering prayers at a gurdwara on the martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Dev.

In a 2022 bypoll, Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) candidate Simranjit Singh Mann defeated AAP's Gurmail Singh by a margin of more than 5,800 votes from the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat.

The chief minister said the AAP's vote share also increased to 26 per cent in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Mann said while the Congress got 35.50 lakh votes, the AAP polled 35.20 lakh votes.

Commenting on the rival parties' performance, the chief minister said the Congress party's vote share declined from 40 per cent in 2019 to 26 per cent this time while the BJP, which drew a blank, lost its stronghold of Hoshiarpur.

Mann also said several candidates of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) lost their security deposits. The AAP leader said the poll outcome was being reviewed and shortcomings, if any, will be removed.

During the just-concluded Lok Sabha polls, the AAP had fielded eight sitting MLAs, including five ministers, however, only one of them -- Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer -- could register a win.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha poll, the AAP won only the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat.

Responding to a question, the CM slammed the BJP for its slogan of '400 paar', saying the saffron party fell short of the majority mark.

"Now they (BJP) do not call it the Modi government. They have started saying the NDA government. Now the dictatorship, which was there earlier, will not work," he said.

Mann said BJP bigwigs like Smriti Irani and Arjun Munda lost the elections and several losing candidates as ministers in the new Cabinet led by Narendra Modi.

Ravneet Bittu, who has been made the minister of state in the Modi Cabinet, should flag the issues of Punjab, especially withholding of funds, with the Union government so that they are released, Mann said.

It is imperative to give impetus to the development of the state and prosperity of its people, he added. Bittu was defeated by Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring in Ludhiana. Replying to a question, Mann said the state government is ready for the July 10 by-election in Jalandhar (West) assembly segment which was necessitated following the resignation of Sheetal Angural as AAP MLA.

The CM said his government was prepared for the ensuing paddy season in the state and asserted that the state government has taken several "pro-people" and citizen-centric initiatives.
(editor@dailyworld.in)