AAP opens election office in Jalandhar

Jalandhar, May 15

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) inaugurated its party office for the Jalandhar Lok Sabha constituency here today. The inauguration was done by the AAP candidate from Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat, Pawan Tinu.

The office, a one kanal house near Guru Ravidass Chowk, was inaugurated after a ribbon-cutting ceremony by Tinu in the presence of cabinet minister Balkar Singh, MLA Raman Arora and Gurcharan Singh Channi, among others. The party’s office has been inaugurated nearly a month after Pawan Tinu joined the AAP (in April) this year.

Notably, while the AAP has a history of inaugurating a number of offices in the district ahead of polls, this year’s formal opening of office has been slightly delayed as compared to the previous elections when the party inaugurated its offices months earlier to host its events.

Party leaders said the office would stay functional only for election-related meetings and work related to the Lok Sabha polls scheduled for June 1.

Ahead of the elections, the AAP has had customarily one or two offices in Jalandhar. Last year, before the Jalandhar byelection too, the party operated from an office in Ravidass Chowk area and another in Model Town.

After Pawan Tinu joined the AAP, his residence operated as the de-facto meeting place of party workers and volunteers and remained the hub of party’s campaign-related meetings, activities and decisions for nearly a month. Tinu had also earlier stated that the party’s formal office would be opened soon.

Before Tinu joined the AAP, party’s urban president and District Planning Board chairman Amritpal Singh’s office at the DAC complex also remained a hub of activity. Amritpal Singh said his private office in Jalandhar West was employed for formal AAP election-related and party workers’ meetings. He said the District Planning Board office was merely visited by people for work related to the planning board and not the party.

On April 10 this year, the BJP had inaugurated its state office for the Lok Sabha elections at Maqsudan with a havan and a path ceremony. The 15-room BJP state party office, which opened on the premises of Vijay Resorts situated at Maqsudan Chowk in Jalandhar, has been hosting the party’s important meetings and press addresses. The party’s election campaign-related departments, including social media, information technology wing, campaign management and booth management, also operate from the same office.

Meanwhile, Jalandhar candidate from Congress Charanjit Singh Channi rented a huge house at Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar in Jalandhar early in April, even before he was formally declared a party candidate to manage his campaign activity in the district.

Cong, AAP open election offices in Phagwara

Phagwara: An election office of Yamini Gomar, Congress candidate from the Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha constituency, was inaugurated in Hargobind Nagar here. Phagwara MLA Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal took control to campaign for the Congress candidate. Yamini, while appealing to the people to vote for the Congress, assured the people to work for the redressal of their problems. Earlier, an election office of AAP candidate Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal was also inaugurated by AAP leaders Joginder Singh Maan, Lalita Saklani, Ashok Bhatia and Daljit Raju at Hargobind Nagar here on Tuesday evening. — OC