AAP's spectacular victory: How bureaucrat turned politician "sweep" Punjab 

The party, which is just 10 years old, has managed to win one of the prominent states in North India. The party, which was branded as Delhi-centric, has been able to penetrate one of the important states.

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Mar 10, 2022 13:04
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AAP's spectacular victory: How bureaucrat turned politician "sweep" Punjab 

Kishan Singh Bhorde

It is just an Aam Aadmi Party wave in Punjab that swept across the province. The decade-old political party floated by former bureaucrat Arvind Kejriwal is all set to rule the state for the first time.

The Aam Aadmi Party has registered a resounding victory, winning 92 seats in the 117-member Assembly. A party needs to get 59 seats to form the government.

The party, which is just 10 years old, has managed to win one of the prominent states in North India. The party, which was branded as Delhi-centric, has been able to penetrate one of the important states. AAP is one of the very few parties in India now having two states with a clear mandate.

The AAP wave was so strong that it knocked out all the old political players, including outgoing Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, who lost two Assembly seats in Chamkaur Sahib and Bhadaur.In this election, Congress Party Chief Navajot Singh Sidhu lost to an AAP candidate in Amritsar East. Parkash Singh Badal and Capt. Amarinder Singh also lost.

The Congress, which won 77 seats in the last Assembly election, has lost the majority of its seats and has won 18 seats. The BJP has won two seats, and the Siromani Akali Dal has won four seats. In the last election, SAD won 15 seats.

Factors contributed for the growth of AAP: The BJP, which has no ground in the state, has earned a seat less than what it achieved in the previous election in an alliance with SAD. The BJP was facing farmers' ire for bringing controversial farm bills and it was the farmers of Punjab who led the agitation against farm bills in Delhi. The party had almost lost touch with Punjab following violence in New Delhi in the month of January, last year.

The Siromani Akali Dal, which split with the BJP over the farm bill issue, ran without an alliance in this election. The party has lost many of its stalwarts in the AAP wave. The party accepted the defeat and congratulated AAP for their resounding victory.

Siromani Akali Dal, which had a good chance to wrest power from Congress, the party's leaving behind its core panthic agenda and refusing to take up substantial issues that affect its social constituency has not helped it.

The party’s delay in taking a stand on contentious farm laws introduced by the BJP government did major damage to the party. The party failed to stand behind the farmers, who were quite vocal against those bills. The party failed to play the role of effective opposition.

The Congress, which ruled the state for a full term, started blaming Captain (Retd) Amarinder Singh for not developing the state. The Capt, a loyal Congressman, ruled the state for four and a half years, and the Congress party replaced him with Charanjit Singh Channi.

The Congress party's claim that the Captain did not initiate development projects in the state cost the grand old party dearly, as the party leadership openly admitted that they were unable to deliver on the promises they made over the previous four and a half years.

The new man, Channi, was not able to do much in the limited time and, with the new CM, the Congress faced the election only to suffer humiliation.

The AAP projected itself as the alternative to the Congress, BJP, and SAD. The party was well organized under the national convenor of the party, Arvind Kejriwal’s supervision, clear process of picking up the candidate and selection of the candidate for the job.

He personally monitored everything in this election, from holding rallies to distributing pamphlets. The party’s groundwork was so superb that the Punjabis saw an alternative to all the old parties.

Manifesto played the game: For AAP, its manifesto did magic to secure power in the state, Kejriwal promised voters he would deliver a Punjab model government. He promised free treatment at Pind Clinics in villages and Mohalla Clinics in urban areas, where patients would not have to pay a single rupee from testing to medication.

He also promised to take on the notorious drug cartel. He assured the public through his manifesto that "Punjab will be drug-free within one month of the formation of the government." Rehabilitation and de-addiction of drug victims within six months. "

Kejriwal said women above 18 years will be given Rs 1,000 per month. And corruption will be eliminated by passing the Jan Lokpal bill

Big blow to Congress: The Congress party lost the final big state in this election. The Congress was a divided house before the election, as its veteran leader, Captain Amarinder Singh, left the party and PCC chiefs Navajot Sidhu and Charanjit Singh Channi’s clash further divided the party and diminished the party's chances of returning to power.