The seventh and final phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024 concluded on June 1. It saw polling in 54 constituencies across 8 states/UTs of India, including Punjab. The results for the elections will be announced on June 4. In the lead up to the results, voters will be eagerly keeping an eye on the exit polls to predict who is going to win. As such, we at True Scoop, conducted surveys on the ground, asking over 5,000 voters their opinions, to determine who would be the likely winner of the Lok Sabha seat. Here’s what our surveys suggest:
Our exit polls suggest that Congress holds a strong lead in the constituency with 32.7% of the votebank. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) trails in second with a margin of just 3.7%, taking 29% of the votebank. AAP held 21.7% votes of Jalandhar voters, with Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in fourth position, taking 9.5% of the votes. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) was trailing in the fifth position with just 7.1% of the votes.
The major candidates who contested elections from this seat are Pawan Kumar Tinu (AAP), Sushil Kumar Rinku (BJP), ex-Chief Minister (CM) Charanjit Singh Channi (Congress), Mohinder Singh Kaypee (SAD) and Balwinder Kumar (BSP). Rinku, who had been the sitting MP, had recently shifted allegiances from AAP to BJP. Channi and Tinu, who are known Dalit face, are contesting against Sushil Rinku who has changed parties for third time but enjoys a good reputation among Jalandhar residents.
Getting into the detail of what acts as a positive point that can help the candidate from each party win the Jalandhar LS seat. First is BJP’s Sushil Kumar Rinku, he has done a great amount of work when he won the elections the last time. He is a known Dalit face in Jalandhar and might get the Hindu votes due to their faith in his work. Former CM Charanjit Singh Channi contesting from Congress’s side might emerge victorious as he is the former CM of Punjab and is a famous Dalit face of Jalandhar.
Most recently, PM Modi had held an election rally in Jalandhar making certain promises such as to make the city a center of sports once again and eradicate issues like drug trafficking or drug business issues. Along with that to rename the Adampur Airport after Guru Ravidass ji, a promise also made by Sushil Rinku during his campaign. Congress meanwhile is contesting a known Dalit face in the form of Charanjit Singh Channi. Moreover, Channi remains the only Dalit to have headed the top post (CM) in a state where the Scheduled Castes form the largest chunk of the population. Congress had also won five of the nine Assembly segments falling under the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat in the 2022 Jalandhar by-elections.
Jalandhar has in total of 1951 polling stations. The constituency consists of 8,54,048 males, 7,87,781 females and 43 transgenders making a total of 16,41,872 voters. The results for the Parliamentary elections 2024 will be announced on June 4.