Punjab will go to the polls on February 20 and the counting of votes will take place on March 10.
Meanwhile, according to a CVoter-ABP News opinion poll released on Monday evening, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is set to win Punjab with a wafer-thin majority while the Congress appears to be way behind, with the Akali Dal-led alliance and the BJP-led alliance in collaboration with former Congress chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh trail behind the two leading contenders.
According to the final results of the poll, the AAP is projected to win between a range of 55 to 63 seats - the upper end of the range ensuring a majority for the party for the first time.
The Congress which recently announced the state's first Dalit Chief Minister as their CM candidate seems to be too far behind a majority with a projection of between 24 to 30 seats.
The alliance with the BSP doesn't seem to have helped the Akali Dal which ruled Punjab in alliance with the BJP between 2007 and 2017. The alliance is projected to win between 20 to 26 seats in the elections.
The BJP-led alliance is nowhere in the picture, projected to win between 3 to 11 seats.
In the 2017 Assembly polls in the state, Congress won an absolute majority by winning 77 seats and ousted the SAD-BJP government which had been in power for 10 years.
Total number of assembly constituencies, magic figure in Punjab:
There are 117 assembly constituencies in Punjab. In order to form a government in the state of Punjab, parties need to have 59 or more number seats. The magic figure in the 117-member Punjab Assembly is 59.
A total of 1,304 candidates are in the fray for the February 20 polls. A total of 2,266 candidates have filed nomination papers from 117 constituencies. However, in the scrutiny, 33 were rejected and 829 candidates withdrew their candidature.
(With IANS inputs)
