2012 Punjab Legislative Assembly election

The Punjab legislative assembly election, 2012 was held on 30 January 2012, to elect 117 members to the 14th Punjab Legislative Assembly. The results of the election were announced on 6 March 2012.^[1] The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal – Bharatiya Janata Party alliance led by Parkash Singh Badal won the elections and became Chief Minister of Punjab for the fifth time.

2012 Punjab legislative assembly election

← 2007 30 May 2012 (2012-05-30) 2017 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 117 seats to the Punjab Legislative Assembly 59 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	78.30% ( 2.88pp)
First party Second party   Leader Parkash Singh Badal Captain Amarinder Singh Party SAD INC Alliance NDA UPA Leader since 1 March 1997 26 February 2002 Leader's seat Lambi Patiala Last election 67 44 Seats won 68 46 Seat change 1 2 Popular vote 5,826,710 5,572,643 Percentage 41.91% (Alliance figures) 40.09% Swing 3.46pp 0.81pp
Seatwise result map of the election
Structure of the Punjab Legislative Assembly after the election
Chief Minister before election Parkash Singh Badal SAD Elected Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal SAD

Background

Punjab have tradition of transfer of power every 5 years between Shiromani Akali Dal and Indian National Congress but this election of 2012 is different from others where ruling party again came to power

2012 Assembly Elections in Punjab received attention for being the first elections after reorganisation of Punjab in 1966 to witness the return of an incumbent party.

This elections also saw the emergence of new political leadership, like rise of Sukhbir Singh Badal and the rise and fall of Manpreet Singh Badal, the founder of the Peoples Party of Punjab.

Religion and Caste Data

Religion Data

As per the 2011 census,

2011 Population data of Punjab (Religion Based)
S. No.	Religion	% Population
1.	Sikhs	57.68
2.	Hindus	37.5
3.	Muslims	1.93
4.	Christians	1.3
5.	Buddhists	1.2
6.	Jains	0.16
7.	Others/Non-religions	0.31

Population by faith in Punjab, India (2011)

1. Sikh (58%)
2. Hindu (38.5%)
3. Muslim (1.9%)
4. Christian (1.3%)
5. Others and non - religious (0.6%)

Caste Data

1. Dalits (Scheduled Castes) constitute 31.94% of the population, the highest percentage amongst all the states.
2. Other Backward Classes (OBCs) like -Sainis, Sunar, Kambojs, Tarkhans/Ramgarhias, Gurjars, Kumhars/Prajapatis, Telis, Banjaras, Lohars constitute 31.3% of the population.
3. Jat-Sikhs comprise 21% of the population while other forward castes (general category) - Brahmins, Khatris/Bhapas, Bania, Thakurs/Rajputs constitute around rest.
4. As of 2016, Government of India has not publicly released Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011 caste population data for every single non-SC/ST castes (General castes, OBC/EBCs) in India.

Caste Population data of Punjab
Constitutional categories	Population (%)	Castes
Other Backward Classes (OBC)	31.3%	includes Sikh Rajputs, Saini (Sainis added to OBC list in 2016), Sunar, Kamboj, Labana, Tarkhan/Ramgarhia, Kumhar/Prajapati, Arain, Gurjar, Teli, Banjara, Lohar, Bhat, Others
Scheduled Castes (Dalits)	31.9%	includes Mazhabi Sikh - 10%, Ramdasia Sikh/Ravidassia (Chamar)/Ad-Dharmi - 13.1%, Balmiki/Bhanghi - 3.5%, Bazigar - 1.05%, Others - 4%[2]
Unreserved (mostly Upper castes)	33%	includes Jat Sikh - 21%, (Brahmin, Rajput, Bania, Khatri-Arora-Sood) - 12%
Others (religious minorities)	3.8%	includes Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Jains

Caste Category

1. General (33%)
2. SC (31.9%)
3. OBC (31.3%)
4. Others (3.8%)

Timeline of events

Schedule for General Election to the Legislative Assembly of Punjab 2012

S.No.	Event	Date	Day
1.	Date for Nominations	05.01.2012	Thursday
2.	Last Date for filing Nominations	12.01.2012	Thursday
3.	Date for scrutiny of nominations	13.01.2012	Friday
4.	Last date for withdrawal of candidatures	16.01.2012	Monday
5.	Date of poll	30.01.2012	Monday
6.	Date of counting	04.03.2012	Sunday
7.	Date before which the election shall be completed	09.03.2012	Friday

Voter Turnout

Regions/Districts	Total Seats	Turnout (%)	Congress		SAD+BJP		BSP		Independents	Others
			Won	Vote (%)	Won	Vote (%)	Won	Vote (%)	Won	Vote (%)
MAJHA
Majha	25	75.0	9	41.2	16	47.2	0	1.2	0	1.1
Gurdaspur	10	76.3	5	42.7	5	45.8	0	0.9	0	1.4
Amritsar	11	71.8	3	38.5	8	48.9	0	0.9	0	1.0
Tarn Taran	4	79.6	1	43.9	3	46.6	0	2.6	0	0.9
DOABA
Doaba	23	76.4	6	37.1	16	41.3	0	4.0	0	12.1
Kapurthala	4	79.0	2	43.4	2	44.1	0	2.7	0	7.4
Jalandhar	9	75.6	0	37.9	9	43.2	0	3.0	0	12.7
Hoshiarpur	7	75.2	2	35.9	4	40.9	0	3.1	0	9.5
Nawan Shahr	3	79.3	2	29.6	1	32.9	0	11.0	0	21.9
MALWA
Malwa	69	80.6	31	40.6	36	40.3	0	6.9	0	3.0
Rupnagar	3	77.5	1	37.9	2	41.4	0	10.3	0	5.0
SAS Nagar	3	75.8	2	30.7	1	38.3	0	4.6	0	7.7
Fatehgarh Sahib	3	81.9	2	33.7	1	35.5	0	20.9	0	4.1
Ludhiana	14	76.0	6	40.7	6	39.9	0	4.6	0	3.3
Moga	4	80.5	1	43.2	3	45.2	0	3.8	0	1.5
Ferozepur	8	83.4	3	37.4	5	39.4	0	2.8	0	1.9
Muktsar	4	85.2	2	40.2	2	41.0	0	12.7	0	2.6
Faridkot	3	84.1	1	38.8	2	43.2	0	7.1	0	2.3
Bathinda	6	82.6	2	40.9	4	42.0	0	9.7	0	1.6
Mansa	3	84.4	1	38.4	2	39.6	0	8.7	0	2.6
Sangrur	7	84.5	2	40.4	5	41.5	0	10.9	0	2.9
Barnala	3	81.8	3	45.9	0	40.1	0	4.1	0	4.0
Patiala	8	78.5	5	49.9	3	37.6	0	3.1	0	2.8
Total	117	78.6	46	40.1	68	41.9	0	5.2	0	4.3
“Others” in this

Parties and Alliances

  National Democratic Alliance

2012 NDA Seat Sharing Map Punjab

No.	Party	Flag	Symbol	Photo	Leader	Seats contested	Seats Won
1.	Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal)				Sukhbir Singh Badal	94	56
2.	Bharatiya Janata Party					23	12

  United Progressive Alliance

No.	Party	Flag	Symbol	Photo	Leader	Seats contested	Seats Won
1.	Indian National Congress				Captain Amarinder Singh	117	46

Sanjha Morcha

No.	Party	Flag	Symbol	Photo	Leader	Seats contested
1.	People's Party of Punjab				Manpreet Singh Badal	87
2.	Communist Party of India (Marxist)					9
3.	Communist Party of India					14
4.	Shiromani Akali Dal (Longowal)

  Bahujan Samaj Party

No.	Party	Flag	Symbol	Photo	Leader	Seats contested
1.	Bahujan Samaj Party				Jasbir Singh Garhi	117

Others

Source: ^[3]

No.	Party	Seats contested
1.	Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar)	57
2.	BSP(A)	17
3.	BGTD	10
4	Nationalist Congress Party	13
5.	Communist Party of India (M–L) Liberation	7
6.	BSA	6
7	BCP	3
8	BRSP	6
9	Lok Janshakti Party	26
10	Rashtriya Janata Dal	1
11	Independent politician	418
12	Shiv Sena	12
13	SSPD	5

Opinion Polls

Most of the opinion polls predicted that Congress will win the election. They were proved wrong as Congress finished as the runner up.^[4]

Polling firm/Link	SAD-BJP	INC	Others
India Today Aaj Tak	40	69	8
Election results	56	46	15

Exit Polls

2012 exit polls for Punjab Assembly Elections results.^[5]

Polling firm/Link	SAD-BJP	INC	Others
India TV C-Voter	47	65	5
News 24	52	60	5
CNN-IBN	51-63	48-60	3-9
Election results	56	46	15

Results

Party-wise Results

Parties and coalitions		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Contested	Won	+/−
	Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)	4,828,612	34.73	2.36	94	56	8
	Indian National Congress (INC)	5,572,643	40.09	0.81	117	46	2
	Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)	998,098	7.18	1.1	23	12	7
	Independents (IND)	938,770	6.75	0.07	418	3	2
Total		13,901,424	100.00			117
Valid votes		13,901,424	99.94
Invalid votes		8,149	0.06
Votes cast / turnout		13,909,573	78.30
Abstentions		3,855,182	21.70
Registered voters		17,764,755

Result by region

Region	Seats	INC	SAD	BJP	Others
Malwa	69	31	34	2	2
Majha	25	9	11	5	0
Doaba	23	6	11	5	1
Sum	117	46	56	12	3

Among parties:

Regions	Total seats	Turnout (%)	Congress		SAD+BJP
			Won	Votes (%)	Won	Votes (%)
Majha	25	75.0	9	41.2	16	47.2
Doaba	23	76.4	6	37.1	16	41.3
Malwa	69	80.6	31	40.6	36	40.3
Total	117	78.6	46	40.1	68	41.9

Result by district

District	Seats	INC	SAD	BJP	Others
Amritsar	11	3	6	2	0
Gurdaspur	10	5	5	0	0
Pathankot	3	0	0	3	0
Tarn Taran	4	1	3	0	0
Jalandhar	9	0	6	3	0
Hoshiarpur	7	2	3	1	1
Kapurthala	4	2	1	1	0
Nawanshahr	3	2	1	0	0
Ludhiana	14	6	6	0	2
Patiala	8	5	3	0	0
Sangrur	7	2	5	0	0
Bathinda	6	2	4	0	0
Firozpur	8	3	4	1	0
Moga	4	1	3	0	0
Sri Muktsar Sahib	4	2	2	0	0
Barnala	3	3	0	0	0
Faridkot	3	1	2	0	0
Fatehgarh Sahib	3	2	1	0	0
Mansa	3	1	2	0	0
Rup Nagar	3	1	1	1	0
S.A.S. Nagar	3	2	1	0	0
Sum	117	46	56	12	3

Result by constituency

List of constituency-wise winner candidates and parties^[6]

Sr.No	Constituency	Winning Candidate	Party		Runner Candidate	Party
1	Sujanpur	Dinesh Singh		BJP	Naresh Puri		Independent
2	Bhoa (SC)	Seema Kumari		BJP	Balbir Ram		INC
3	Pathankot	Ashwani Kumar Sharma		BJP	Raman Bhalla		INC
4	Gurdaspur	Gurbachan Singh Babbehali		SAD	Raman Bahl		INC
5	Dina Nagar (SC)	Aruna Chaudhary		INC	Bishan Dass		BJP
6	Qadian	Charanjit Kaur Bajwa		INC	Sewa Singh Sekhwan		SAD
7	Batala	Ashwani Sekhri		INC	Lakhbir Singh Lodhi Nangal		SAD
8	Sri Hargobindpur (SC)	Des Raj Dhugga		SAD	Balwinder Singh Laddi		INC
9	Fatehgarh Churian	Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa		INC	Nirmal Singh Kahlon		SAD
10	Dera Baba Nanak	Sukhjinder Singh		INC	Sucha Singh		SAD
11	Ajnala	Bonny Amarpal Singh Ajnala		SAD	Harpartap Singh Ajnala		INC
12	Raja Sansi	Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria		INC	Vir Singh Lopoke		SAD
13	Majitha	Bikram Singh Majithia (E)		SAD	Sukhjinder Raj Singh (Lali)		Independent
14	Jandiala (SC)	Baljit Singh Jalal Usma		SAD	Sardul Singh Bandala		INC
15	Amritsar North	Anil Joshi		BJP	Karamjit Singh Rintu		INC
16	Amritsar West (SC)	Raj Kumar (E)		INC	Rakesh Gill		BJP
17	Amritsar Central	Om Parkash Soni (E)		INC	Tarun Chugh		BJP
18	Amritsar East	Navjot Sidhu (E/W)		BJP	Simarpreet Kaur		Independent
19	Amritsar South	Inderbir Singh Bolaria (E)		SAD	Jasbir Singh Gill (Dimpa)		INC
20	Attari (SC)	Gulzar Singh Ranike (E)		SAD	Tarsem Singh D.C		INC
21	Tarn Taran	Harmeet Singh Sandhu		SAD	Dr.Dharambir Agnihotri		INC
22	Khem Karan	Virsa Singh		SAD	Gurchet Singh		INC
23	Patti	Adeshpartap Singh Kairon		SAD	Harminder Singh Gill		INC
24	Khadoor Sahib	Ramanjit Singh Sikki		INC	Ranjit Singh Brahampura		SAD
25	Baba Bakala (SC)	Manjit Singh Manna Mianwind (E)		SAD	Ranjit Singh (Chhajjalwadi)		INC
26	Bholath	Bibi Jagir Kaur		SAD	Sukhpal Singh		INC
27	Kapurthala	Rana Gurjit Singh		INC	Sarabjeet Singh Makkar		SAD
28	Sultanpur Lodhi	Navtej Singh		INC	Upinderjit Kaur		SAD
29	Phagwara (SC)	Som Parkash		BJP	Balbir Kumar Sodhi		INC
30	Phillaur (SC)	Avinash Chander		SAD	Santokh Singh Chaudhary		INC
31	Nakodar	Gurpartap Singh Wadala		SAD	Amarjit Singh Samra		INC
32	Shahkot	Ajit Singh Kohar		SAD	Col. C D Singh Kamboj		INC
33	Kartarpur (SC)	Sarwan Singh		SAD	Chauhdary Jagjit Singh		INC
34	Jalandhar West (SC)	Chuni Lal Bhagat		BJP	Suman Kaypee		INC
35	Jalandhar Central	Manoranjan Kalia		BJP	Rajinder Beri		INC
36	Jalandhar North	K. D. Bhandari		BJP	Avtar Henry		INC
37	Jalandhar Cantt	Pargat Singh		SAD	Jagbir Singh Brar		INC
38	Adampur (SC)	Sh. Pawan Kumar Tinu		SAD	Sh. Satnam Singh Kainth		INC
39	Mukerian	Rajnish Kumar		Independent	Arunesh Kumar		BJP
40	Dasuya	Amarjit Singh		BJP	Ramesh Chander Dogra		INC
41	Urmar	Sangat Singh		INC	Arbinder Singh		SAD
42	Sham Chaurasi (SC)	Mohinder Kaur Josh		SAD	Chaudhary Ram Lubhaya		INC
43	Hoshiarpur	Sunder Sham Arora		INC	Tikshan Sud		BJP
44	Chabbewal (SC)	Sohan Singh Thandal		SAD	Dr. Raj Kumar		INC
45	Garhshankar	Surinder Singh Bhulewal Rathan		SAD	Lov Kumar Goldy		INC
46	Banga (SC)	Tarlochan Singh		INC	Mohan Singh		SAD
47	Nawan Shahr	Guriqbal Kaur		INC	Satinder Kaur Kariha		SAD
48	Balachaur	Nand Lal		SAD	Shiv Ram Singh		BSP
49	Anandpur Sahib	Madan Mohan Mittal		BJP	Kanwar Pal Singh		INC
50	Rupnagar	Dr Daljeet Singh Cheema		SAD	Romesh Dutt Sharma		INC
51	Chamkaur Sahib (SC)	Charanjit Singh Channi		INC	Jagmeet Kaur		SAD
52	Kharar	Jagmohan Singh		INC	Ujjagar Singh		SAD
53	S.A.S. Nagar	Balbir Singh Sidhu		INC	Balwant Singh Ramoowalia		SAD
54	Bassi Pathana (SC)	Justice Nirmal Singh		SAD	Harbans Kaur Dullo		INC
55	Fatehgarh Sahib	Kuljit Singh Nagra		INC	Prem Singh Chandumajra		SAD
56	Amloh	Randeep Singh		INC	Jagdeep Singh Cheema		SAD
57	Khanna	Gurkirat Singh		INC	Ranjit Singh Talwandi		SAD
58	Samrala	Amrik Singh		INC	Kirpal Singh		SAD
59	Sahnewal	Sharanjit Singh Dhillon		SAD	Vikram Singh Bajwa		INC
60	Ludhiana East	Ranjit Singh Dhillon		SAD	Gurmail Singh Pehalwan		INC
61	Ludhiana South	Balwinder Singh Bains		Independent	Hakam Singh Giaspura		SAD
62	Atam Nagar	Simarjit Singh Bains		Independent	Hira Singh Gabria		SAD
63	Ludhiana Central	Surinder Kumar Dawar		INC	Satpal Gosain		BJP
64	Ludhiana West	Bharat Bhushan Ashu		INC	Prof. Rajinder Bhandari		BJP
65	Ludhiana North	Rakesh Panday		INC	Parveen Bansal		BJP
66	Gill (SC)	Darshan Singh Shivalik		SAD	Malkiat Singh Dakha		INC
67	Payal (SC)	Charanjit Singh Atwal		SAD	Lakhvir Singh		INC
68	Dakha	Manpreet Singh Ayali		SAD	Jasbir Singh Khangura(Jassi Khangura)		INC
69	Raikot (SC)	Gurcharan Singh		INC	Bikramjit Singh		SAD
70	Jagraon (SC)	S R Kaler		SAD	Ishar Singh		INC
71	Nihal Singh Wala (SC)	Rajwinder Kaur		SAD	Ajit Singh Shant		INC
72	Bhagha Purana	Maheshinder Singh		SAD	Darshan Singh Brar Khote		INC
73	Moga	Joginder Pal Jain		INC	Paramdeep Singh Gill		SAD
74	Dharamkot	Tota Singh		SAD	Sukhjit Singh		INC
75	Zira	Hari Singh		SAD	Naresh Kumar		INC
76	Firozpur City	Parminder Singh Pinki		INC	Sukhpal Singh		BJP
77	Firozpur Rural (SC)	Joginder Singh Alias Jindu		SAD	Satkar Kaur		INC
78	Guru Har Sahai	Gurmeet Singh Sodhi		INC	Vardev Singh		SAD
79	Jalalabad	Sukhbir Singh Badal		SAD	Hans Raj Josan		Independent
80	Fazilka	Surjit Kumar Jyani		BJP	Jaswinder Singh		Independent
81	Abohar	Sunil Kumar Jakhar		INC	Shiv Lal Doda		Independent
82	Balluana (SC)	Gurtej Singh		SAD	Giriraj Rajora		INC
83	Lambi	Parkash Singh Badal		SAD	Maheshinder Singh		INC
84	Gidderbaha	Amrinder Singh Raja Warring		INC	Sant Singh Brar		SAD
85	Malout (SC)	Harpreet Singh		SAD	Nathu Ram		INC
86	Muktsar	Karan Kaur		INC	Kanwarjit Singh Rozy Barkandi		SAD
87	Faridkot	Deep Malhotra		SAD	Avtar Singh Brar		INC
88	Kotkapura	Mantar Singh Brar		SAD	Ripjeet Singh Brar		INC
89	Jaitu (SC)	Joginder Singh		INC	Gurdev Singh		SAD
90	Rampura Phul	Sikander Singh Maluka		SAD	Gurpreet Singh Kangar		INC
91	Bhucho Mandi (SC)	Ajaib Singh Bhatti		INC	Pritam Singh		SAD
92	Bathinda Urban	Sarup Chand Singla		SAD	Harminder Singh Jassi		INC
93	Bathinda Rural (SC)	Darshan Singh Kotfatta		SAD	Makhan Singh		INC
94	Talwandi Sabo	Jeetmohinder Singh Sidhu		INC	Amarjit Singh Sidhu		SAD
95	Maur	Janmeja Singh		SAD	Mangat Rai Bansal		INC
96	Mansa	Prem Mittal		SAD	Gurpreet Kaur		INC
97	Sardulgarh	Ajit Inder Singh		INC	Dilraj Singh Bhunder		SAD
98	Budhlada (SC)	Chatin Singh		SAD	Satpal Singh		INC
99	Lehra	Rajinder Kaur Bhattal		INC	Sukhwant Singh		SAD
100	Dirba (SC)	Sant Balvir Singh Ghunas		SAD	Ajaib Singh		INC
101	Sunam	Parminder Singh Dhindsa		SAD	Aman Arora		INC
102	Bhadaur (SC)	Mohammed Sadique		INC	Darbara Singh Guru		SAD
103	Barnala	Kewal Singh Dhillon		INC	Malkit Singh Kittu		SAD
104	Mehal Kalan (SC)	Harchand Kaur		INC	Gobind Singh		SAD
105	Malerkotla	F. Nesara Khatoon (Farzana Alam)		SAD	Razia Sultana		INC
106	Amargarh	Iqbal Singh Jhundan		SAD	Surjit Singh Dhiman		INC
107	Dhuri	Arvind Khanna		INC	Gobind Singh		SAD
108	Sangrur	Parkash Chand Garg		SAD	Surinder Pal Singh Sibia		INC
109	Nabha (SC)	Sadhu Singh		INC	Balwant Singh		SAD
110	Patiala Rural	Brahm Mohindra		INC	Kuldeep Kaur Tohra		SAD
111	Rajpura	Hardyal Singh Kamboj		INC	Raj Khurana		BJP
112	Dera Bassi	N.K. Sharma		SAD	Deepinder Singh Dhillon		Independent
113	Ghanaur	Harpreet Kaur Mukhmailpura		SAD	Madan Lal Jalalpur		INC
114	Sanour	Lal Singh		INC	Tejinderpal Singh Sandhu		SAD
115	Patiala	Amarinder Singh		INC	Surjit Singh Kohli		SAD
116	Samana	Surjit Singh Rakhra		SAD	Raninder Singh		INC
117	Shutrana (SC)	Vaninder Kaur Loomba		SAD	Nirmal Singh		INC

By-polls 2012-2017

No.	Date	Constituency	MLA before election	Party before election		Elected MLA	Party after election		Reason
1.	11 July 2012	Dasuya	Amarjit Singh		Bharatiya Janata Party	Sukhjit Kaur		Bharatiya Janata Party	Death
2.	23 February 2013	Moga	Joginder Pal Jain		Indian National Congress	Joginder Pal Jain		Shiromani Akali Dal	Resigned

See also

• Politics of Punjab, India
• 2017 Punjab Legislative Assembly election
• 2007 Punjab Legislative Assembly election