Punjab and Goa will go to the polls on Saturday, setting off multi-phased Assembly elections in five States.
Arch-rivals BJP and Congress will battle it out in the two States, with Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP making its debut.
The BJP is in government in Punjab in alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for two successive terms, while it also helms Goa, despite ally Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party having drifted away just after the announcement of elections to form a three-party combine.
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In Punjab, the electorate of over 1.98 crore, including more than 6 lakh first-time voters, will be deciding the fate of 1,145 candidates in the fray in 117 constituencies.
Saturday’s polling will decide the fate of a number of political bigwigs, including 89-year-old Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, seeking a sixth term in office, his old political rival and the Congress’s CM face Amarinder Singh, who has declared it will be his last election, and Mr. Badal’s son and deputy Sukhbir.
Punjab’s Chief Electoral Officer V.K. Singh and Additional DGP-Elections V.K. Bhawra told the media on Friday that the State machinery was working round the clock to ensure peaceful, free and fair elections. Over 2.07 lakh employees and 1 lakh police personnel have been deployed to ensure smooth polling.
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Test for Modi
The elections in Punjab and Goa, which will be followed by those in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Manipur, beginning later this month and spilling over to March, are being billed as a major test of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity following the demonetisation of high-value currency.
In Goa, 11.09 lakh voters will elect candidates to the 40-member Assembly. A total of 251 candidates are in the fray, and multi-cornered contests have sparked fears of a fractured mandate.
In Punjab, Badal Sr. is locked in a keen battle with Amarinder for the Lambi seat, the pocket borough of the Badals. Amarinder, the scion of the Patiala royal family, is also in the fray from his home town where ready to give him a run for his money is the former Army chief J.J. Singh of SAD. Stand-up comedian and AAP MP from Sangrur, Bhagwant Mann, who is a probable candidate for chief ministership if the party wins the election, is crossing swords with Sukhbir in Jalalabad. Navjot Singh Sidhu, the cricketer-turned-politician, who quit the BJP to join the Congress just ahead of the polls, is trying his luck from Amritsar East seat, part of his former parliamentary constituency Amritsar.
Voting will also take place for Amritsar Lok Sabha seat, which fell vacant after State Congress chief Amarinder Singh resigned to protest against the Supreme Court order on the Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal.
In Goa Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, BJP’s pre-poll ally in the last elections, has teamed up with rebel RSS leader Subhash Velingkar’s Goa Suraksha Manch (GSM) and the Shiv Sena.
( With PTI inputs )