AAP debacle in Lok Sabha poll may delay civic body elections

Charanjit Singh Teja

Amritsar, June 10

With five sitting MLAs from the Urban Assembly constituencies, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) suffered a jolt as it succeeded in maintaining its lead only in Amritsar South constituency. Instead, the BJP got a good lead in three out of the five urban Assembly segments in the Lok Sabha polls. The results in Amritsar urban area have been demoralising for the AAP and it is being expected that the party will not take the risk of holding the municipal corportion (MC) elections soon.

The Congress got a lead only in the West Assembly constituency. On the basis of Lok Sabha poll results, we observe that the main competition would be between the BJP and the Congress in the upcoming MC elections. The AAP has to make real good efforts to gain its ground again. — Kuljeet Singh, former AAP activist

The term of the elected General House in the MC had ended in January 2023. There was a huge resentment among aspirants for the post of councillors and other public representatives over the delay in holding municipal elections. The vote percentage of AAP suffered more in rural the areas. Even after attaining political power in the state, the AAP leadership failed to strengthen its grassroots cadre in the urban areas. During poll campaign, the AAP only organised roadshows of its star campaigners, but booth-level activity was negligible.

Pawan Sharma, a political analyst, said, “AAP had deliberately delayed the MC elections, but this was not in party’s favour. There is no grassroot structure of the AAP. Local leaders do not know each other. Even the MLAs can’t recognise ward in-charges of their own party. Now, there would be further delay in holding the MC elections after the lukewarm Lok Sabha polls for the party.”

Meanwhile, the BJP leaders are quite enthusiastic after the poll results and are keeping an eye on the MC elections. Though the BJP candidate Taranjit Singh Sandhu lost the Lok Sabha elections, the party saw its revival in the urban areas after a long gap. In 2012, the BJP and its alliance partner SAD had 24 councillors each out of 65 in the MC House. But in 2018, the BJP had only six councillors.

Talking about the urban Assembly segments, the BJP registered victory in the Central Assembly constituency where it got 35,572 votes while the Congress candidate got only 24,878 votes from here. The BJP got the highest 47,408 votes in the North Assembly constituency. In Amritsar East Assembly constituency, the BJP got 29,635 votes, leading over all other contestants. Even in the West constituency, the BJP had a sizeable vote share and stood second after the Congress.

“The Congress got a lead only in the West assembly constituency. The party has its organisational set-up. On the basis of Lok Sabha poll results, we observe that the main competition would be between the BJP and the Congress in the upcoming elections. However, the Congress is also not in a good position. The AAP has to make real good efforts to gain its ground again,” said Kuljeet Singh, a former AAP activist.