ABP News-CVoter Punjab Exit Poll 2022: AAP Way Ahead But Will It Form Govt?

ABP Cvoter Punjab Exit Poll Result 2022: Punjab has had its share of two cornered contests with Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal as the major players but the fight this time is very unpredictable.

Punjab Exit Poll 2022 Highlights | ABP News-CVoter Exit Poll

ABP CVoter Punjab Exit Poll 2022 Highlights: Will the result day finally end the uncertainty over Punjab’s political future, or a hung assembly spring up unexpected post-poll scenarios?

The Uttar Pradesh Election 2022 was set to be the biggest contest of the year, with UP being the most populous Indian state, having a key to the Hindi heartland. However, Punjab sprung a multi-corner contest unlike any other in the state in recent decades as the internal turmoil in Punjab Congress made the contest wide open.

Punjab has had its share of two-cornered contests with the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal as the major players. But the fight this year involves the ruling Congress, Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party, and Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir’s Akali Dal that is fighting in alliance with Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party.

The five-corner contest also includes the BJP alliance with former CM Amarinder Singh’s Punjab Lok Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt), as well as farmer leaders’ political outfits ‘Sanyukt Samaj Morcha‘ and ‘Sanyukt Sangharsh Party’.

While all major parties expressed confidence that they will win, this unpredictable election raised concerns over Punjab witnessing a hung assembly for the first time as seemingly smaller players may also impact the parties’ vote share.

So will Punjab see a clear mandate on March 10, or face an unprecedented post-poll situation? This ABP-CVoter Exit Poll tries to find out just that.

ABP News-CVoter Punjab Exit Poll 2022 - Vote Share 

According to the ABP News-CVoter Exit Poll, AAP is projected to be claiming the highest vote share at 39%, followed by Congress at 26.7%. While AAP seems to have made gains, the ruling Congress appears to have lost a significant share as compared to the 2017 results. So has Akali Dal, which has lost nearly 5% of votes, predicted to gain a 20.7% share in this election.

The BJP alliance involving former CM Amarinder Singh’s Punjab Lok Congress and SAD (Sanyukt) has been projected to gain a 9.6% vote share while others may get 3.8%.

ABP News-CVoter Punjab Exit Poll 2022 — Range Of Seats

The ABP-CVoter Exit Poll shows an interesting scenario where the AAP is closer to the majority mark of 59 seats. The party can either form the government with a very narrow margin or Punjab will see a hung assembly. The ruling Congress faces a significant setback as it is projected to win 22 to 28 seats.

The Akali Dal is behind the ruling party, with 20 to 26 projected seats.

The BJP-Amarinder Singh alliance is expected to win 7 to 13 seats while others may win 1 to 5 seats.

ABP News-CVoter Punjab Exit Poll 2022 | Region-Wise Projection

According to the ABP News-CVoter Punjab 2022 Exit Poll, the Congress and the AAP can have a neck-and-neck contest in Doaba, while the Bhagwant Mann-led party can sweep the Malwa region. The Akali Dal alliance is also not too far behind in Doaba and it is expected to have lead in Majha.

The single-phase Punjab election was held on February 20, to elect the 117 members of the 16th State Legislative Assembly. 

According to the final statement by Punjab’s Chief Electoral Officer, the state saw an overall voter turnout of 71.95%, lower than the voting percentage (77.2%) reported in the 2017 Punjab Assembly Election.

The highest polling was registered in Mansa (81.24%), Sri Muktsar Sahib (80.49%), Malerkotla (78.28%), Bathinda (78.19%), and Fazilka (78.18%) districts. Amritsar reported the lowest turnout at 65.87%.

In the 2017 Punjab election, while poll predictions indicated an AAP win, the Congress emerged victorious ousting the 10-year SAD-BJP alliance rule. However, Punjab has continued to reel under the same issues, including drug abuse, illegal sand mining, and unemployment, among others, even though regimes changed.

Now all eyes are on March 10 (Thursday) when the counting of votes will take place and the final poll results for all five states will be declared.

[Disclaimer: The current survey findings and projections are based on ABP News C-Voter Exit Poll/Post Poll personal interviews conducted on polling day and after polling day among 18+ adults statewide. The sample size was 1.04 lakh in Uttar Pradesh, 17,480 for Uttarakhand, 16,533 for Punjab, 5,502 for Goa and 5,269 for Manipur. The projection comes with 95 per cent Confidence interval.]