Dhawan fails to strike chord with city voters

Amit Sharma
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, May 24

The vote bank of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) shrunk in the city from 1.08 lakh votes polled to AAP candidate and Bollywood actress Gulkirat Kaur Panag in 2014 to only 13,781 votes polled to the party this time. Despite being a local candidate, Harmohan Dhawan failed to strike chord with voters.

The AAP had made its debut in Chandigarh a few months before the 2014 elections. Gulkirat, famous as Gul Panag, was fielded by AAP leaders. Despite being a new party with no experience in Chandigarh, residents still came out in large numbers to support the AAP. A large number of volunteers not only voted for the party but also campaigned for Gul Panag.

However, the enthusiasm was completely missing this time. Many volunteers, who dedicatedly campaigned for the AAP in last elections, left the party later on.

Meanwhile, it seems winning the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat was also not a priority for the AAP high command as nobody, expect AAP leader and Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia, turned up in the city in support of Dhawan.

Sisodia too just addressed the media and left for Mohali to hold a roadshow.

While AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal held a massive roadshow for Panag a few days before the elections in 2014, he didn’t turn up this time.

Political observers attribute several factors to AAP’s downfall in the city. “First of all, the AAP disappeared from political scene after the 2014 elections and failed to make its presence felt by not grooming local leaders,” said a political observer.

Dhawan, a local candidate, who was assumed to have his hold in colonies, was fielded by the AAP to make a comeback in the city. However, the decision didn’t turn in AAP’s favour. In addition to that, Dhawan’s ill-planned campaigning that focused mainly in villages also led to his failure.

“Voters residing in sectors were almost ignored,” said another political observer.