THE STAKES are high for all political players in Punjab as the state heads for its first municipal elections after the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP’s) entry into Punjab politics in 2014, and its subsequent rise to power since. The last polls for five municipal corporations and 43 municipal councils, which are going to polls on December 21, were held in 2018.
Punjab has 13 municipal corporations. Eight of these went to polls in February. The remaining five — Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar and Phagwara — will vote on December 21. All five were won by the Congress in 2018.
The AAP is going into the elections with hopes high after the November bypolls saw the party winning three of four Assembly seats — Chabbewal, Dera Baba Nanak and Gidderbaha. The momentum is showing in its municipal poll efforts, with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann telling a recent meeting of party workers to “work hard and touch every single voter” in the campaign. The “good work” done by the AAP government should reach the people, Mann said, mentioning its schemes such as free power and the setting up of mohalla clinics.
While Mann will hope that the party’s successful run from the bypolls will continue, the municipal elections are also a test for new AAP Punjab chief Aman Arora, who took over on November 23.
For the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), with its sliding fortunes, it is a fight to get back into the game. The party stayed away from the recent Assembly bypolls after former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and other senior SAD leaders were charged guilty of violating the Sikh religious code of conduct and had to serve a punishment. With the SAD’S footprint in Punjab declining over the years, leaders are hoping to put up a fight at least in its pockets of influence.
SAD spokesperson Parambans Singh Bunty Romana said, “We will contest the elections with all our strength. We have fielded candidates on our symbols even though the government had given very little time for filing of nominations. We will come out strong.”
For the BJP, these are its first solo local body elections, having parted ways with SAD in 2021. The BJP is believed to be primarily eyeing urban seats. Party leader Subhash Sharma said his party would give a tough competition to the AAP. “The AAP has unleashed undemocratic ways to force opponents not to contest elections. We used to talk about booth capturing… But now they are capturing nominations. AAP goons have snatched nomination papers from official files. This is the new Punjab,” Sharma claimed.
Like the BJP, the Congress is also betting on urban seats, and hopes to reverse the setback of the bypolls. All four seats that went to bypolls were vacated by Congress MLAs who were elected to the Lok Sabha. But the Congress only managed to win Barnala, with its candidate Kuldeep Singh Kala Dhillon defeating the AAP’s Harinder Singh Dhaliwal by almost 2,200 votes.
Sandeep Sandhu, the general secretary of the Punjab Congress, said he was confident the party will bounce back better in the municipal corporation polls. “People have seen enough of badlaav (change). Now, they want change from this badlaav. They want better civic amenities. They will vote for the Congress.”
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