Jalandhar: BJP candidates might have lost their security deposit at three of the four assembly seats in Punjab where bypolls were held recently, but the saffron party’s vote share in these constituencies for the 2022 assembly elections, 2024 parliamentary elections and the bypolls shows the outfit retained its vote base.
The party got these votes even as it was known BJP had no chances of winning.In Barnala, the party got reasonable traction. In the other three rural seats, BJP candidates lost their security deposit.

A comparison of votes shows the saffron party has recovered from what it had lost to AAP’s landslide win in 2022. Perhaps, it had gained more in the parliamentary election as there was polarisation of upper caste Hindu voters towards BJP in Punjab and it made a cut in Congress vote base also in that social base.
BJP is the only party to make such a recovery from AAP, whereas Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal are still reeling under those losses. BJP got 1,913 votes in Dera Baba Nanak in 2022. In the 2024 parliamentary elections, it polled 5,981 votes from the assembly segment. In this bypoll, it got 6,505 votes.
In Chabbewal, it got 4,073 votes in 2022, 9,472 in parliamentary elections, and 8,692 votes in this bypoll.
In 2022, BJP was in an alliance with Capt Amarinder Singh-led Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) and his party contested from Gidderbaha. His party got just 391 votes. However, in the parliamentary elections, BJP got 14,850 votes in Gidderbaha. In this bypoll, party nominee Manpreet Badal got 12,227 votes.
The most remarkable consistency appears at Barnala. In 2022, BJP got 9,122 votes. In the 2024 parliamentary elections, it got 19,2018 votes. This time, party nominee Kewal Singh Dhillon got 17,958 votes.
In Dera Baba Nanak, BJP registered a slight gain in voters. The votes have also made it evident that senior SAD and Congress leaders fielded by BJP have made little difference.
This retention of its vote base by the BJP also assumes significance when municipal bodies polls are scheduled to be held in Dec end. AAP making Aman Arora its Punjab unit president and also making it a point to project him as “a prominent Hindu leader” has apparently been done ahead of the municipal polls as AAP bosses are realising they face a major challenge from BJP among upper caste Hindus.