Chandigarh, Mar 10 (PTI) AAP on Thursday bucked the trend of the Congress and the SAD sharing power in Punjab alternatively by capitalising on people’s disillusionment with traditional parties and the urge for a change.
As the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is set to win over 90 seats, its national convener called his party’s victory a “revolution”.
With this, AAP has now got a full state to rule. The other state where AAP is in power is Delhi, which is a union territory.
The party encashed on people’s disillusionment with traditional outfits, sought a chance to bring about a change as AAP accused its rivals of looting the state.
The party’s slogan “ik mauka Bhagwant Mann te Kejriwal nu” (one chance to Bhagwant Mann and Kejriwal) seems to have clicked among voters.
The party sought to replicate the Delhi model of governance in Punjab by improving the condition of schools and health facilities.
AAP also promised freebies like Rs 1,000 per month for women, free power up to 300 units and round the clock electricity to woo voters.
The announcement of Bhagwant Mann as the CM face before the polls also worked to its advantage.
The AAP’s landslide victory showed that it performed well in all three regions–Malwa, Majha and Doaba.
AAP made its presence felt in electoral space in 2014 when it won four Lok Sabha seats in Punjab. The victory came at a time when the BJP performed very well throughout the country.
Though it could not perform as per its expectations in the 2017 Punjab Assembly polls, yet it turned out to be the principal opposition party by winning 20 seats.
It performed well in the Malwa region by winning 18 seats. But it could not perform in Doaba, where it just won two seats, and in Majha, it failed to win even a single seat.
The Malwa region accounts for 69 of the 117 Assembly seats.
However, the party faced internal bickering when several party MLAs rebelled against the Delhi leadership in 2019 while seeking autonomy for the state unit.
The party ended up runner up in 2017 polls and later its functioning was marred by factionalism and internal bickering.
Kejriwal came under attack from political opponents over allegations of supporting separatists on the basis of accusations of former AAP leader Kumar Vishwas.
The political rivals also described Kejriwal an “outsider” and called Bhagwant Mann as “dummy face” while the Delhi CM as the “real face” of AAP in Punjab. PTI CHS SUN VSD RDK RDK
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
Source: The Print
