oppn parties AAP Performs Well In Chandigarh Civic Polls

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AAP Performs Well In Chandigarh Civic Polls

By Linus Garg
First publised on 2021-12-28 06:22:37

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.

The results of the civic polls in Chandigarh have confirmed that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is riding a wave in Punjab and the BJP has lost ground. Although Chandigarh is not strictly in Punjab and it is a cosmopolitan town, yet the results of the first election of any kind in north India after the farm laws were repealed clearly show which way the wind is blowing.

In the hung civic body, AAP emerged as the single largest party with 14 of the 35 wards. The BJP came second with 12 and the Congress won 8, double of what it won in 2016. The reverse suffered by the BJP resulted in the defeat of many heavyweights, including the outgoing mayor Ravi Kant and two former mayors. On the other hand, the bright side for the Congress was that despite winning only 8 seats, it got 29.8% of the votes, the highest among all parties.

Since India follows the first-past-the-post system, it is not necessary that the party which gets the highest overall votes gets the maximum seats. What was seen in Chandigarh is likely to be repeated, on a larger and more fragmented scale in Punjab since there will be many more players in the field. The Punjab assembly is also likely to return a hung verdict as all opinion polls point to that.

The Punjab political potpourri will comprise of the Congress, AAP, the BJP in alliance with Amarinder Singh's party and the breakaway faction of the Akali Dal, SAD, the Sanyukt Samaj Morcha and many smaller parties. The votes will get divided. In the end, it might boil down to a race between the Congress and the AAP with the former fighting anti-incumbency and the latter held back by not having a popular local face. There is no doubt that the forthcoming elections will be the most fiercely fought and the most interesting elections in the state. 

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