The voter turnout for the Punjab Assembly election was 77.2% The Indian National Congress led by former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh defeated the ruling alliance and the newcomer Aam Aadmi Party.
One constituency in every district will be chosen for trial run of Voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines used along with EVMs.
[20] Wherever it trailed the major parties, its vote share was mostly bigger than the margin of victory of the winning candidate, turning forthcoming elections into three-cornered contests.
[21] The previous election, held in 2012, resulted in a majority of seats being won by ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party and Parkash Singh Badal became Chief Minister of Punjab.
The Congress took part in the elections under the leadership of Amarinder Singh, and the party hired poll strategist Prashant Kishor for campaigning.
[31] On 15 March 2016, Mayawati during a mega-rally in Nawanshahr on the birth anniversary of BSP founder Kanshi Ram in Punjab attacked SAD-BJP government as "anti-Dalit" and Arvind Kejriwal as a "baniya" who had "always worked against Dalit and Scheduled Caste people" before he became Delhi CM.
The party also announced a 10% reservation for the poor upper castes if the BSP government comes to power in Punjab.
[38] BSP Punjab unit started social media campaigning[39] and also visited NRIs for support in Vienna,[40] Europe and North America.
[42] Gurmel Chander, former president of the SC & BC teachers employees union, joined the BSP on 25 August.
[49] At this rally, Avtar Singh Karimpuri and Dr. Megh Raj attacked Shiromani Akali Dal and Congress as anti-Sikh parties.
There were several election issues like unemployment & lack of skills, farmers' crises, continually failing economy, sifarish (patronage & influence peddling & nepotism), unbridled crime and the role of goons in day-to-day matters of the citizen,[51] road rage & accidents.
[64] Other Backward Classes (OBCs) like Sainis, Sunar,[65] Kambojs, Tarkhans/Ramgarhias, Gurjars, Kumhars/Prajapatis, Telis, Banjaras, Lohars[66][67] constitute 31.3% of the population.
The Punjab state witnessed a tough fight between the major four political parties in the assembly election held on 4 February 2017.