Punjab: AAP banks on local issues to defend 42% vote share

Tribune News Service

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, April 29

If “Kejriwal Ki Guarantee” is being sold across the country to woo the electorate, work done by the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government in two years will be the fulcrum of the party’s election campaign in the state.

The party has released two campaigns — for all states where it’s contesting the poll and Punjab specific where AAP is looking to defend its vote share of 42.01 per cent it got during the 2022 Assembly poll.

The national campaign guarantees uninterrupted and free power to the poor, full statehood for Delhi, better public healthcare and education.

In Punjab, the campaign is revolving around 43,000 government jobs provided by the AAP government, closure of toll plazas, availability of canal water at tail-end villages, continuous supply of power to farmers, governance on the doorstep and quick payment to farmers for their purchased crops.

This strategy to promote CM Mann, as the face of the campaign, has likely been done after the party pollsters realised how the AAP vote share fell by 2.61 per cent in the 2022 Sangrur bypoll within months after the party recorded a massive win in the Assembly poll.

When the party lost the Sangrur bypoll — the constituency which was represented twice by CM Mann and had two Cabinet Ministers — the voter perception of AAP Delhi-based leaders, claiming supremacy over Punjab leaders, was cited as one of the most significant reasons for the electoral defeat. During the Jalandhar parliamentary bypoll in 2023, the party let CM Mann lead from the front and managed to get 34 per cent vote share.

With AAP national convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in jail, the party is banking only on Mann’s appeal to lead the campaign. During the past week, Mann has held roadshows in different constituencies. It has been learnt that the central leadership would only work behind the scenes now.

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