AAP has seized the key region to win Punjab elections

Sandwiched between the Yamuna and Sutlej rivers and bordering Haryana and Rajasthan, Punjab's Malwa region is the state's power centre because of its size, population and political clout.

Home to half of the state's 22 districts, it sends as many as 68 MLAs to the 117-seat Assembly.

Two of Punjab's most expensive cities, Mohali and Ludhiana, are located in Malwa. And a large number of diasporic Sikhs also have their roots in the same division.

Akali veteran and chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, his son and deputy Sukhbir Singh Badal, Capt Amarinder Singh of the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party's Bhagwant Mann and Jarnail Singh have their electoral fate locked in Malwa.

This belt, Punjab's biggest, dominates state politics.

Since the reorganisation of Punjab in 1966, almost all chief ministers have come from Malwa, which accounts for 58 per cent of the total strength of Punjab's legislature. The remainder is divided between Doaba - the area between the Sutlej and Beas rivers - and Majha up in the north.

In 2012, as many as 34 of the 56 boroughs, that Badals' Shiromani Akali Dal won, were located in Malwa alone. In 2007, the SAD managed 19 and the Congress 37 from the region.

Clearly, Malwa has been the hot-bed of Punjab's bipolar politics till the Aam Aadmi Party's arrival disrupted the status quo.

What explains AAP's deep inroads into Malwa is, therefore, a reflection of its residents' disaffection with the both Akalis and the Congress.

Arvind Kejriwal's party appears to have caught the imagination of this key part of the state, which figuratively is the road to power in Punjab.

With its highest concentration of voting and general population, Malwa is ready to experiment with the fresh breed of politics more than Doaba and Majha.

In Punjab, the Badal dynasty, now at the end of its second successive term, faces more than a general anti-incumbent mood. Some observers say voters are rather frustrated and angry with the ruling family.

Kejriwal's AAP appears to have tapped successfully into stong anti-Akali sentiments, especially in Malwa, which at present is the SAD's stronghold.

The Congress is encountering a tough challenge partly because of the Rahul Gandhi factor. In all, voters don't seem to be finding the family scion promising - and energetic - enough to be able to guide his party with a sense of urgency, let alone the state or any of its regions.

Also read - Why desperate rivals label Kejriwal a Naxal in Delhi, a Khalistani in Punjab