AAP single largest party in Chandigarh civic polls on debut | India News

An AAP candidate celebrates his victory within the Chandigarh civic polls

CHANDIGARH: Debutant AAP on Monday dealt a double whammy to the outdated guard within the Chandigarh Municipal Company elections, relegating BJP to second place and pushing Congress to 3rd within the seat stakes with a tally of 14 out of 35. The outcomes prompted AAP nationwide convenor and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to name it “an indication of the change in Punjab”.
North India’s first electoral train for the reason that BJP repealed the three farm legal guidelines that had triggered a yearlong agitation left the AAP simply wanting a easy majority and the saffron celebration with 12 seats, eight lower than its 2016 civic election rating of 20 out of 26. The AAP victory additionally felled sitting mayor Ravi Kant and two former mayors of BJP.
Congress, which had been trying to capitalise on the obvious anti-incumbency wave in opposition to BJP, doubled its 2016 tally to win eight seats and garnered the best vote proportion of 29.8% total.
BJP was second on this respect, too, with a vote share of 29.3%. AAP’s share of votes on debut stood at 27%. Shiromani Akali Dal received one seat. “Individuals of Chandigarh in the present day have chosen the sincere politics of AAP, rejecting corrupt politics. Many congratulations to all of the successful candidates and staff of AAP. This time Punjab is prepared for change,” Kejriwal tweeted, alluding to meeting elections in Punjab early subsequent 12 months.
AAP functionary Raghav Chadha mentioned, “Chandigarh is only a trailer, Punjab is the film.”
The celebration acquired the most important mandate within the villages and colonies, historically the vote banks of Congress. In lots of wards, BJP candidates slipped to the third place after Congress. All of the AAP candidates have been newcomers.
In addition to failing to get its sitting mayor re-elected, BJP suffered a shock defeat in ward quantity 25 that was beforehand held by its metropolis unit president Arun Sood. He had backed Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha president Vijay Rana, who misplaced to AAP candidate Yogesh Dhingra. Chandigarh Congress president Subhash Chawla’s son Sumit was among the many outstanding losers, ending third in ward 14.
Sources in AAP mentioned the celebration now needed to make sure BJP doesn’t stand an opportunity of getting its nominee elected because the mayor. AAP has informally approached native Congress functionaries already for help within the mayoral race, they mentioned. Supply mentioned AAP can be aiming to present impetus to its essential ballot plank in Punjab, “Ik mauka Kejriwal nu (one probability for Kejriwal)” after rising as the one largest celebration within the Chandigarh municipal polls.
Whereas it debuted within the Chandigarh civic battle, AAP has already contested three meeting elections in Punjab.