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Explained: Punjab’s three regions, and the politics behind PM’s project announcements

Rather than concentrating investments in one pocket, the PM inaugurated and laid foundations for projects across Malwa, Doaba and Majha. Here’s a look at the three regions and what the geographical distribution signals ahead of the 2027 Assembly election.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi flags off new train services from Jalandhar Cantonment railway station during a programme to inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of multiple development projects, in Jalandhar, Punjab, on Friday. PTI

Written by: Anju Agnihotri Chaba

5 min readJalandharJul 18, 2026 03:34 PM IST First published on: Jul 18, 2026 at 03:34 PM IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Punjab on Friday was officially centred around infrastructure. He inaugurated and laid the foundations for over a dozen projects worth Rs 5,470 crore.

But rather than concentrating investments in one politically important pocket, the projects were spread across Punjab’s three regions — Malwa, Doaba and Majha.

Carved out by the rivers flowing through the state, Malwa, Majha and Doaba are not just geographically distinct but politically and culturally diverse as well. All three have their own distinct Punjabi dialects.

For a state where politics has traditionally revolved around regional identities, caste equations and religious influence, the geographical distribution of projects itself becomes politically significant, especially ahead of the Assembly election in 2027.

What are Punjab’s three regions?

Punjab does not vote as one homogeneous state. Each of its three regions has a distinct political character.

Punjab’s three regions

Malwa: This is the largest of the three regions, with 69 of Punjab’s 117 Assembly seats spread across 12 of the state’s 23 districts. Any party aspiring to form a government must perform well here. Nestled between the Satluj and Ghaggar rivers, this belt has had a monopoly in state CMs for the last three decades.

Majha: With the Ravi river flowing to its west, Beas in the east and Satluj in the south, Majha means ‘in the middle’, and it used to be the centre of undivided Punjab before Partition. Majha, which has 25 seats, carries strategic importance because it includes the border districts of Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Pathankot and Gurdaspur. It has a profusion of historic gurdwaras, including the Golden Temple, and the Kartarpur corridor that leads to a revered shrine across the border in Pakistan.

Doaba: With its 23 Assembly seats, Doaba has the state’s largest Scheduled Caste population and remains politically important because Dalit voters significantly influence election outcomes in many constituencies. Lying between the Satluj and Beas, Doaba (meaning between two rivers) is a buffer between Malwa and Majha.

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The Centre’s latest projects touch all three regions instead of concentrating resources in a single electoral belt. That broad spread enables the BJP to argue that its development agenda extends across Punjab rather than targeting only selected constituencies.

How were the projects distributed and what has each region received?

Malwa, the largest region, got seven projects. Doaba and Majha, meanwhile, got five and three projects each. All these projects affect more than a dozen of the state’s 23 districts. They include railway redevelopment, highway expansion, expressways, new rail connectivity and station modernisation.

Unlike election-time announcements that often favour one region, Friday’s package appears designed to ensure that every part of Punjab finds representation.

The largest share naturally went to Malwa. Projects include the Southern Ludhiana Bypass, sections of the Delhi-Katra Expressway, IT City-Kurali highway connectivity and redevelopment of railway stations such as Anandpur Sahib, Muktsar Sahib and SAS Nagar. These are long-term infrastructure investments affecting industrial, urban and agricultural districts simultaneously.

For the panthic belt of Majha, the projects include redevelopment of railway stations in Pathankot and Batala under Amrit Bharat, besides the launch of the Chhehrta (Amritsar)-Varanasi train. Although fewer in number, these projects carry symbolic importance because they strengthen connectivity in Punjab’s border belt while also linking Amritsar directly to Varanasi.

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For Doaba, the PM announced railway station redevelopment at Jalandhar Cantonment and Phagwara, highway improvements and the Daulatpur Chowk-Kartoli railway line.

But there was also some political signalling here. For the second time in five months, Modi met Sant Niranjan Das, the head of Dera Sachkhand Ballan — perhaps the most influential organisation within the Ravidassia community. Ravidassias are a Dalit community of whom the bulk — nearly 12 lakh — live in Doaba. Modi also flagged off a rail service connecting Punjab with Varanasi, the birthplace of Guru Ravidas, the founder of the sect. This follows his February visit to Jalandhar during Guru Ravidas Jayanti.

Taken together, the repeated engagements suggests that the BJP is aiming at a sustained outreach towards the Ravidassia community, rather than treating it as a one-off symbolic event.

Why does this matter ahead of the 2027 elections?

What made the Prime Minister’s Friday visit different was that the projects themselves were geographically structured to touch each of Punjab’s political regions. Whether this eventually translates into electoral gains remains uncertain. But the visit indicates that the BJP’s Punjab strategy is no longer confined to relying on former allies.

The distribution of projects across Malwa, Doaba and Majha suggests the party is trying to project itself as a contender with a statewide development agenda — well before the campaign for the 2027 Assembly election formally begins.