SAD patron Parkash Singh Badal fighting Punjab polls 'won't have any impact', affirms BJP

In a major political development, former Punjab Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) patron Parkash Singh Badal will contest assembly elections from Lambi. Calling Parkash Badal 'one of the tallest leaders', Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa said that the 94-year-old contesting polls would not have a major impact as today's generation would not connect with him.

"A younger voter who is at the age of 18 will not be able to connect with Parkash Singh Badal. Though we have no right to speak on him as his party has announced that he will be contesting from Lambi. But I myself feel that he should have not stepped in active politics as he has ruled the state for 20 years and the state is a mess now," Sirsa said.

"I don't feel it will have any impact. But I do feel there will be a negative impact," he said. Meanwhile, Akali Dal spokesperson Hardeep Singh said that Parkash Singh Badal is the only leader that connects will three generations.

SAD on Wednesday announced that Parkash Badal will contest from Lambi constituency. the former Punjab CM had won the 2017 Assembly elections from the seat, defeating Captain Amarinder Singh, who went on to secure the Patiala Urban seat.

The 94-year-old Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) patriarch was on Monday evening discharged from the hospital where he was admitted after he tested positive for Omicron variant of COVID-19 last week.

Punjab elections 2022

The assembly elections in Punjab will take place on February 20 to elect members of the 177-member house. The votes will be counted on March 10.

In the last Assembly polls in 2017, the Congress bagged 77 out of 117 seats, leaving the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance behind in the third place with 18 seats. Aam Aadmi Party was second with 20 seats.

With just a few weeks for polls, the Republic TV-PMARQ Opinion Poll recently projected a neck-to-neck competition between the AAP and Congress. As per the findings of the Republic-PMarq poll, AAP is projected to win 49-55 seats and the Congress 43-49 seats, underscoring that the scale could tip in anyone's favour, or result in a hung assembly. Apart from the two close contenders, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) is projected to win 15-21 seats, BJP + 1-3 seats and Others 1-3 seats.