Politically influential Malwa belt important in Punjab
Chandigarh: Malwa belt is always considered to be the largest and politically influential region in Punjab, especially during assembly elections, where if a party secures maximum assembly seats in this belt, it can easily form the government in the state. Is.
Punjab can be broadly divided into three regions Malwa, Majha and Doaba.
Beyond the Sutlej River, it is called the Malwa region, the Doaba region falls between the Beas and Sutlej rivers, while Majha falls between the Ravi and Beas rivers.
As far as parliamentary elections are concerned, the eight seats fall in Ludhiana, Bathinda, Firozpur, Faridkot (SC), Fatehgarh Sahib (SC), Patiala, Anandpur Sahib and Sangrur Malwa region.
The two seats – Hoshiarpur (SC) and Jalandhar (SC) – are in the Doaba region.
Majha region broadly comprises three parliamentary seats – Gurdaspur, Amritsar and Khadur Sahib.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress won eight parliamentary seats in Punjab, bucking the pro-Modi trend seen across North and Central India in that general election.
It conquered Ludhiana, Anandpur Sahib, Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib, Faridkot from the Malwa region and Amritsar and Khadur Sahib in the Majha region.
It also conquered Jalandhar which is in the Doaba region.
However, in the 2023 by-elections, AAP wrested the Jalandhar seat from Congress.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) won from Bathinda and Firozpur, which are in the Malwa region. AAP managed to win the Sangrur seat, which is also in the Malwa belt.
BJP won Hoshiarpur (Doaba) and Gurdaspur (Majha) seats.
However, in the 2022 by-election, SAD (Amritsar) won the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat, while AAP won the Jalandhar seat in the 2023 by-election.
Out of total 117 assembly seats in the state, Malwa region has 69 seats.
The dominance of this region on the politics of Punjab can be gauged from the fact that many leaders like Prakash Singh Badal, Amarinder Singh, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Beant Singh, Bhagwant Mann who became the Chief Minister of the state, came from this belt.
The Malwa belt was the epicenter of farmers’ agitation in 2020-21 against the Centre’s three now-repealed farm laws.
In the 2022 assembly elections, AAP captured the Malwa belt by winning 66 out of 69 seats in the region.
My area is also important from political point of view. It is called Panthic Belt. This belt is home to the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
The Doaba belt has a large population of the Scheduled Caste (SC) community.
The share of SC community in the population of Punjab is about 32 percent, which is the highest in the country.
Most of the non-resident Indians (NRIs) in Punjab also come from this region.
