Amid uproar over mayoral poll, AAP wrests control of 31 MCs

Even as the entire Punjab leadership of the Aam Aadmi Party is busy in campaigning for the Delhi Assembly poll, it has managed to get its leaders elected as presidents in 31 of the 32 municipal councils, the elections for which were held recently.

This is over and above the bitterly contested mayoral poll between AAP and the Congress in Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar and Phagwara. Meanwhile, several AAP leaders said they are confident of wresting control of the remaining civic bodies where poll for the president’s post is yet to be held.

Nine civic bodies – Raja Sansi, Nadala, Shahkot, Handiaya, Sangrur, Khanauri, Moonak, Mullanpur Dakha and Dharamkot — are yet to see the contest.

According to party leaders, the party’s gamble of appointing Aman Arora as the state president has paid off as he is popular among urban Hindu voters.

After Arora assumed the charge as the party chief, AAP won 537 of 977 wards that went to poll as part of the civic body elections on December 21.

“There was little time left for the elections. But I carried along the party leaders and MLAs, and we were the first to declare our candidates. This gave us an advantage over candidates fielded by other parties,” Arora told The Tribune.

Though the Congress leadership in Punjab has been crying foul over the results, saying AAP adopted questionable tactics to gain control of the civic bodies, the ruling party has denied the charge. “The Congress could not put up a united show and its sparring leaders pushed the councillors away. Since the councillors wanted to deliver on their promise of development in their respective wards, their members joined AAP,” Arora said.

He said while 55 per cent of the wards were won by his party, the Congress strike rate was just 19 per cent. “Seventeen per cent of the wards were won by Independents, most of whom preferred to join AAP,” he said.