YEARENDER : AAP sees highs and lows in year of elections
The year 2024 was a year of elections for the Doabaites. So much so that out of the 366-day year, there were only 166 days when there was no election code imposed. The code remained in effect for exactly 200 days this year because of a series of elections, including the LS poll, Jalandhar West Assembly bypoll, panchayat polls, Chabbewal Assembly bypoll and the most recently conducted MC polls.
The poll code of the Lok Sabha elections got announced on March 15, the election to which was held in the last phase on June 1. Jalandhar got ex-Chief Minister and Congress leader Charanjit S Channi as its Lok Sabha MP. The LS seat had remained with AAP for about nine months. Around that time, AAP had suffered a major drubbing with its sitting MP Sushil Rinku and sitting Jalandhar West MLA Sheetal Angural quitting the party and joining the BJP.
After a setback from March-June, AAP revived again when the Jalandhar West bypoll got conducted. On July 10, AAP regained its lost seat with the resounding victory of Mohinder Bhagat as the MLA from the seat. The party got a fresh lease of life in Jalandhar after Bhagat's win. He was rewarded with a ministerial berth as per the CM's commitment.
In the run-up to the bypoll, Jalandhar also became second home to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. He took a rented accommodation at Royal Estate in Jalandhar Cantonment to be here for a month. He is still keeping this house, which he visits off and on.
Just two months after this bypoll got over, the code was announced for panchayat poll which got conducted in mid-October. Just as these got over, four Assembly bypolls got announced, including that of Chabbewal. On November 23, Hoshiarpur AAP MP Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal's radiologist son Dr Ishank Kumar also made a political foray by becoming AAP's Chabbewal MLA. The son's victory made Dr Raj Kumar a taller Dalit leader of Doaba.
Weeks since this election, the MC poll got announced. AAP which had been triumphant since July, again faced a setback. Despite roping in winnable candidates from all parties, including the Congress' former Mayor, former Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor, AAP could not get a clear majority and fell short of five seats to elect its Mayor in the 85-ward Jalandhar Municipal Corporation. It fared even badly in Phagwara where it could win only 12 of 50 wards.
