AAP victory in Jalandhar LS byelection may see civic body poll being held in Amritsar soon

Charanjit Singh Teja

Amritsar, May 14

With the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) emerging victorious in the Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll, the possibility of holding Municipal Corporation General House elections has now brightened in Amritsar. The MC General House was dissolved on January 21. Though Minister for Local Government Inderbir Singh Nijjar claimed that the elections have been delayed due to delay in the completion of delimitation process in Ludhiana, Amritsar and Jalandhar, byelection in the region is also said to be one of the reasons behind the delay in holding the civic body elections.

Political experts observed that the government may conduct the MC election soon to take advantage of the recent LS bypoll victory. With the overwhelming victory in Jalandhar Lok Sabha byelection, the Aam Adami Party believes it has passed the litmus test and that the Municipal Corporation elections in the state would not be a major challenge for the party.

In the 2018 MC elections, the Aam Aadmi Party had contested in alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Communist Party of India (CPI). The AAP, BSP and CPI contested 62, 11 and 8 seats, respectively, failing to win any seat. The trio had dissolved the alliance after the election without any official announcement. As AAP has now formed the government in the state with 92 MLAs, the situation is totally different from the previous elections. After the formation of government by AAP in 2022, more than 25 sitting councillors of the Congress, SAD and BJP had joined AAP. Even former Congress Mayor Karamjit Singh Rintu had shifted loyalty.

Jaswant Singh, an AAP volunteer, said, “The AAP has been strengthened after victory in the Jalandhar Lok Sabha byelection. Now, the party will win the MC elections also as there is no challenge in the city for AAP. The Congress and SAD have been rejected badly by the people of Punjab. The BJP and other such parties do not have any hold in the holy city.”

“No doubt, the AAP gets the benefit of providing freebies, including 300 power units, development in the city has been suffering after the formation of AAP government in the state. There is strong anti-incumbency against AAP and people will react accordingly in the MC elections,” said Kuljit Singh, a local activist.