, the Chief Minster is being challenged by his own estranged nephew Manpreet Singh Badal who has floated a political outfit called People’s Party of Punjab and is contesting against the SAD. It is stated that in Punjab, the assembly poll is confined to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Congress headed by Patiala Maharaja and articulate Amarendra Singh. The NDA comprises Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress. The SAD comprises several break-away factions of erstwhile unified Akali Dal and BJP has mainly consolidated the Hindu votes in favour of the alliance. Congress had an upper hand in the 2002 assembly elections but SAD and the BJP combined bounced back in the 2007 general elections. In the Lok Sabha elections two years later, Congress trounced the SAD and BJP by winning 8 of the total 13 Lok Sabha seats in the state. BJP got four and SAD could win only 1 seat. The major parties are affected by factionalism and have to accommodate persons of questionable antecedents.

 

A watchdog affirms that out of 408 candidates, 61 candidates have declared pending criminal cases against themselves. Out of 61 candidates, 22 candidates have declared serious criminal cases such as murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, robbery against themselves, said Jaskirat Singh, Coordinator for PEW. Out of 408 candidates, only 29 candidates are women while there are 10 Congress women candidates out of 116, SAD has fielded 10 women candidates out of 83 seats and the BJP has 2 women in the fray out of 21.

Amidst disenchantment of the 1, 74, 33,408 voters with the ruling and opposition parties and allegations and counter allegations, what is heartening is that there is no encouragement at all for separatist politics. Militant philosophy and extremist tendencies have no takers among the people who remain committed to inclusive socio-economic development.