The elections for 15th Punjab Vidhan Sabha will be held in February 2017 and election commission announced the election schedule and polling dates today. The polling in Punjab will be held in single phase and the date of polling is Saturday, 4th February 2017. The previous assembly elections in Punjab were held on 30th January 2012, which was a Monday.
For a summary of election schedule, jump to the section
Punjab Election 2017 Dates.
Here is the complete schedule of
Punjab election dates:
- Dr. Nasim Zaidi, Chief Election Commissioner (CEO) announced the poll dates on 4th January 2017 and imposed the model code of conduct with immediate effect.
- Polling in 5 states Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur will be held together.
- There are total 19214236 (1.92 Crore) voters in Punjab who will choose the 117 MLAs of Punjab Assembly. The final voting list or electoral rolls of Punjab will be published on 5th January and same will be done in UP on January 12.
- The last date of filing of nomination papers is 18/1/2017. The scrutiny of nominations will be done by 19/1/2017.
- The date of withdrawl of candidature is Saturday, 21 Jan.
- The date of polling for the assembly elections in Punjab is 4 February 2017 (Saturday). The voting for all 117 Assembly Constituencies in Punjab will be held on same day.
- The counting will be held together in all five states, so we have to wait for more than a month as elections in UP will be held in seven phases.
- The date of counting in Punjab is 11 March and the election process will be completed by 15 March.
Punjab Election 2017 Dates
The election commission of India has announced the schedule of assembly elections in Punjab and the following table has a summary of election dates in Punjab:
Punjab Election 2017 Dates
| Sr. No. | Election Process | Election Date | Weekday |
| 1 | Last Date of Nominations | 18-Jan-2017 | Wednesday |
| 2 | Scrutiny of Nominations | 19-Jan-2017 | Thursday |
| 3 | Withdrawal of Candidature | 21-Jan-2017 | Saturday |
| 4 | Polling Date | 4-Feb-2017 | Saturday |
| 5 | Counting and Results | 11-Mar-2017 | Saturday |
Some highlights from the previous elections held in 2012 are:
- The last elections for 14th legislative assembly of Punjab were held on 30th January 2012.
- The date of counting and election results was 6 March 2012. There was a gap of more than one month between polling and results as the elections in UP were going on during February and the counting in both states were done on same date.
- Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) won 56 seats and its coalition partner BJP won 12 seats. With clear majority of 68 seats, SAD-BJP coalition formed government under the leadership of S. Parkash Singh Badal.
- S. Parkash Singh Badal took oath on 14th March 2012 at Banda Bahadur Memorial, Chapar Chiri (Mohali) and started his fifth innings as Chief Minister of Punjab.
- The Congress party could manage to win only 46 seats and Independent candidates became MLAs from 3 seats.
- The currently number of MLAs from each party is: SAD = 60, BJP = 12, Congress = 44, Independent = 3
For the coming elections, there are three major political parties in Punjab: Shiromani Akali Dal with its alliance partner BJP is the ruling party in Punjab. Akali Dal will contest the elections on 94 seats and its alliance partner BJP will field its candidates from 23 seats. The Congress party is participating in these elections under the leadership of Captain Amrinder Singh.
Aam Aadmi party also has a strong presence in the state and it trying to make most of the anti-incumbency factor against the ruling SAD and BJP alliance goverment.
For a list of candidates from the main parties, check the following pages:
Shiromani Akali Dal Candidate List 2017
AAP Candidate List 2017 Punjab
Punjab Congress Candidates 2017