Assembly elections: Congress likely to emerge as largest party in Punjab by winning 49-55 seats

New Delhi: The Congress is likely to emerge as the single largest party in Punjab in the Assembly election due early next year.

According to the India Today-Axis Opinion Poll, the grand old party may win 49-55 seats.

On the other, Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), may end as runners-up with 42-46 seats.

As for vote share, Congress may command a third of Punjab’s votes (33%) and the AAP will trail at 30.

Meanwhile, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) combine is likely to end 17 to 21 seats as per the opinion poll.

BJP-SAD alliance may get 15% of the votes.

Around 76 percent of the participants also agreed that the drug menace is a major problem, and 80 percent blamed politicians for not being able to control it.

The poll also said that around 22 percent votes that had gone to the BJP-SAD alliance in the past have shifted to the AAP, while 19 percent votes shifted to the Congress.

The opinion poll surveyed 6,552 people in all 117 constituencies.