SNE NETWORK.LUDHIANA/CHANDIGARH.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has won the by-election held on Ludhiana West Assembly seat in Punjab. While this victory has strengthened the ground for the party for the 2027 assembly elections, it has also given a clear indication that the anti-incumbency wave in Punjab is not as strong against the Aam Aadmi Party as the opposition parties were expecting.
In this election, AAP got a big advantage of declaring its candidate first. By the time the election was announced, Sanjeev Arora strengthened himself at the grassroots level. Sanjeev Arora himself went ahead to solve the problems of the people from improving the basic facilities.
Apart from this, the benefit of the campaigning of AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal and CM Bhagwant Mann and the promise of including Arora in the cabinet has been directly received. At the same time, the distance of big leaders from the campaigning and internal strife drowned the Congress and BJP.
How did AAP win, understand in 4 points
Benefit from the campaigning of CM Mann and Kejriwal:
Arvind Kejriwal and CM Bhagwant Mann had announced the name of Sanjeev Arora only after the seat became vacant. After this, Arvind Kejriwal and CM Mann came to campaign for them several times. Promised the industrialists that their work would be made easier. Promised to bring a welfare policy for the workers. Apart from this, he also promised to take Sanjeev Arora to the cabinet, which has been accepted by the people.
Benefit of free electricity and ration:
A large part of Ludhiana East falls in the slum area, where workers working in industries live. Aam Aadmi Party also got the benefit of getting 600 units of electricity and ration free every month.
Benefit of being in power:
This seat was with Aam Aadmi Party earlier also, but this time the vote share of Aam Aadmi Party has increased. There is still about one and a half year left for the 2027 assembly elections. Till then Aam Aadmi Party is in power with a clear majority. In such a situation, the voters chose them, so that the works of the area keep getting priority for the coming one and a half years.
Vote percentage was very low:
51.33 percent voting was recorded in this election, while 64 percent voting took place in the 2022 assembly elections. There were 14 candidates in this by-election. The party also got the benefit of this. If the vote percentage was more than 65 percent, then Congress or opposition parties could have benefited from it. Because this has been seen in the previous elections.
Why did Congress lose…
Absence of big leaders and internal conflict: Punjab Congress President and Ludhiana MP Amarinder Singh Raja Warring had reached the nomination of Congress candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu, but was not seen campaigning in his favor. After this, his close aide Simarjit Singh Bains also did not come in his favor. Pratap Bajwa also did not come to campaign. After getting Kamaljit Singh Karwal, who has a score of 36 against Simarjit Singh Bains, to join the party, Ashu had to suffer even more losses.
Lack of enthusiasm among supporters, low voting: This time only 51.3% voting took place on this seat. The low turnout showed a lack of enthusiasm among Congress supporters, local leadership also did not cooperate. Senior leader Sanjay Talwar was also not seen. Many local leaders neither campaigned nor encouraged voters during the elections. This is the reason why Congress’s vote percentage also fell.
AAP’s activism and policies:
AAP has benefited the most from free electricity and ration. Poor families were seen standing with AAP. Congress staged a sit-in accusing AAP of misuse of government machinery and announcements, but it did not have much effect.
Where did BJP lag behind…
Candidate got limited time for campaigning: BJP announced the ticket to Jeevan Gupta at the last moment, due to which he did not get enough time to campaign in the entire area and activate the organization. The time between nomination and campaigning was very less, due to which Gupta could not be identified among the public.
Weak organization and factionalism:
Lack of coordination was seen among the local and state level leaders of the party. Some leaders including Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu were active in the campaign, but the cadre workers did not come forward. BJP’s Vikram Sidhu, who came second in the 2022 elections, stayed away from campaigning. Vikram was a contender for the ticket, but the party gave the ticket to Jeevan Gupta instead of him.
Low voter turnout harmed BJP:
Low voter turnout of 51.33% had a direct impact on the BJP, as the party’s vote bank has traditionally been in the urban and business class, who reached the polling stations in less numbers this time.
BJP campaigned on national issues:
BJP’s campaign focused on national issues. Votes were sought in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While voters wanted solutions to local development, traffic, cleanliness and business problems. Only a few leaders, including Union Minister of State Ravneet Singh Bittu, were active in campaigning for BJP candidate Jeevan Gupta.
2 reasons for Akali Dal lagging behind…
Weak hold in urban areas, party voters broke away and joined AAP: Ludhiana’s West constituency is in the urban area, while Shiromani Akali Dal has a traditional hold in rural and Sikh-dominated areas. Since the alliance with BJP broke, the cadre voter has distanced himself from the Akali Dal. After 2022, a large number of voters have joined the Aam Aadmi Party.