Will Malwa offer a decisive edge to AAP in Punjab?

With just a couple of days left for polling in Punjab, a palpable yearning for an alternative is being felt in the electorally significant Malwa region of Punjab. This region, which is located south of the majestic Satluj river, accounts for the majority of assembly seats, 69 out of the total 117, in Punjab. A majority stake in Malwa invariably determines the composition of the next government.

“Successive governments have done little for Punjab. Noting much has been achieved on the issue of sacrilege and the drug menace in Punjab. People of Punjab saw both the SAD-BJP combine and the Congress dragging its feet on the issue. They are left with no choice but to look for an alternative, a change,” Sangrur based advocate Narinder Singh told DHNS.

Travel across the region, especially in the hinterland, and the clamor for a change gets louder. At his construction site, Mansa resident Ravinder Goel feels there’s no harm in trying out an alternative party since the other mainstream parties have not done much. “There’s support for the AAP. But I am not sure if anything changes at the last moment,” he said.

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Malwa has politically dominated the discourse in this border state. Out of the 17 chief ministers Punjab has had since 1966 (ever since reorganization took place), 15 CM’s have been from Malwa region. Giani Gurmukh Singh and Darbara Singh were the only two CM’s who were not from Malwa. Incumbent CM Charanjit Singh Channi, Parkash Singh Badal, Captain Amarinder Singh all have been chief ministers from this region.

The AAP, which made its assembly election debut in Punjab in the last election in 2017, managed to significantly erode the voter base of both the Congress and the SAD-BJP combine in Malwa.

The SAD combine took a major hit as it lost a sizable Jat Sikh votes to the AAP, which in 2017 garnered 30 percent of the Jat Sikh votes in Malwa alone. Out of the 20 seats that AAP won last time, 18 were in Malwa. The party hopes to consolidate its position in this region with Bhagwant Mann, contesting from Dhuri in Sangrur in Malwa, spinning the narrative of change across all the regions in this border state.

The Congress has a major stake in Malwa, with the party thriving on 40 seats it won in the last elections. Ahead of elections, Malwa came into limelight because of the year-long farmer movement against the Centre’s three controversial farm laws that have now been repealed. According to a quoted study conducted by professors Lakhwinder Singh and Baldev Singh Shergill of Punjabi University, around 80% of the farmers who died during the protests were from Malwa region. Estimated by farmer unions, over 700 people died during the farmer’s agitation.

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