Chandigarh 

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday congratulated the people of Punjab for the party's stellar performance in the state assembly polls, calling the mandate "revolutionary".

"Iss Inquilab ke liye Punjab ke logon ko bahut bahut badhai (congratulations to the people of Punjab for this revolution)," tweeted Kejriwal with a photo of him and the AAP Chief Ministerial candidate Bhagwant Mann, showing the victory sign.

According to the Election Commission data at 3.45 pm, AAP had won 53 seats and was leading in 39 others out of the 117 seats in the Punjab Assembly, followed by Congress which won 6 seats and was leading in 12 and the Shiromani Akali Dal which won one and was leading in 2 seats

This will be AAP’s maiden victory in the state and a vast improvement over its performance in the 2017 elections when it had finished second behind Congress.

Congress went into the polls, battling factionalism and anti-incumbency. The party changed its Chief Minister in September last year even as the party's new state unit chief Navjot Singh Sidhu hinted about his own chief ministerial ambitions. Congress finally declared Charanjit Singh Channi as the first Dalit Chief Minister of Punjab, endorsing him for the chief ministerial face days before the polling on February 20.

The Shiromani Akali Dal, which had broken off the alliance with the BJP over the three farm laws that were eventually repealed, tied up with Bahujan Samaj Party for the Assembly elections.

It is the first time that the BJP fought on over 65 seats in Punjab. It tied up with former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh's Punjab Lok Congress and SAD (Sanyukt) led by SS Dhindsa.

Punjab recorded an average voter turnout of 65.50 per cent on February 20 compared to over 77 per cent in 2017.