Outgoing Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi submitted his resignation to the governor of the state, on Friday, 11 March, following the Congress' defeat in the 2022 Assembly polls.
"I have given my resignation to the Governor. He told me and the cabinet to continue until the new government is sworn in. I accept the people's mandate," Channi said.
"We will always be there to serve the people of Punjab. We will continue doing our duty & be among them. I request the new government to continue the public welfare projects and schemes that we brought in, in the last 111 days," he added.
The Congress could only manage to win 18 seats out of a total of 117 in the Punjab Assembly.
Meanwhile, Channi lost both the seats he contested from. In the Chamkaur Sahib seat, Channi lost to the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) candidate Dr Charanjit Singh by nearly 8,000 votes. Channi also contested from Bhadaur in Barnala district, where he was up against AAP's Labh Singh Ugoke and the Shiromani Akali Dal’s Satnam Singh Rahi. He lost to Ugoke by an even more significant margin, over 37,000 votes.