AAP to contest local body, panchayat poll in Haryana on party symbol

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 23

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will contest the forthcoming elections to Urban Local Bodies and gram panchayats in Haryana on its symbol.

The elections are long overdue, and are expected to be held after the easing of the Covid pandemic.

“The decision to fight the local bodies’ elections will be the concrete starting block for its plans to contest the next Assembly and Lok Sabha poll in the state,” Rajya Sabha member and AAP’s Haryana in-charge Sushil Gupta said here today.

“The local elections will be contested on the party symbol to convey the message that AAP is not woolly headed, but full of determination,” he said.

AAP’s optimism stems from the support it claims to be receiving from people in villages, especially after the farmers’ agitation against the three Central farm laws.

The party had tested the political waters by unsuccessfully contesting the last Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the state.

It had contested from Faridabad, Ambala and Karnal in the 2019 parliamentary elections in alliance with the JJP. Subsequently, it had contested 46 seats in the Assembly elections. The party had failed to open its account in both elections.

AAP leaders said though the party did not bag any seat in the elections, it sent out a loud message that it was here to stay. Besides, the move inspired confidence among people, and helped the party to increase the enrolment of new members.

Gupta said, “The ruling BJP-JJP government has been discredited, while the Congress is a faction-ridden entity. The INLD and the JJP, depend on caste politics. In this scenario, AAP feels confident of making inroads into the local elections.”

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