With local body elections in Punjab scheduled for December 21 in five municipal corporations and 43 councils, it is the first time the BJP is contesting solo. The AAP government has been accused by both the BJP and Congress of hastening the municipal elections in Punjab, which has left insufficient time for opposition candidates to file their nominations. BJP Ludhiana district president Rajneesh Dhiman said that for the first time ever, the entire election process will be completed within just 12 days. So far, the voter lists are still incomplete.
Scheduled for December 21, these are to see a cutthroat fight. With 95 seats in Ludhiana urban locality, the BJP is relying on the help from urban Hindu voters.
The previous tenure of this municipality expired in March 2023 and the delay in organizing has surfaced as an issue to get into arguments.
In the Ludhiana 2018 civic polls, Congress emerged victorious by winning 62 out of 95 seats. BJP and Akali Dal were contesting together back then, and won a combined total of 21 seats. AAP, with the help of its alliance Lok Insaaf Party (LIP), could manage only 8 seats and AAP itself managed only one seat. The politics has drastically changed since then. AAP currently rules Punjab with a decisive majority in the state assembly. In 2018, Congress’s Balkar Singh Sandhu was the mayor of Ludhiana and in 2012, the Akali-BJP alliance had dominated the municipal corporation.
The BJP is confident of the results with an inspiration from the outcome of the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Though Congress’s Amarinder Singh Raja Warring won the Ludhiana parliamentary seat, BJP’s Ravneet Singh Bittu led in five urban assembly segments (North, West, East, South, and Central). Congress held on to Atam Nagar and Gill constituencies whereas BJP lost in rural areas such as Dakha and Jagraon. AAP, though having MLAs across Ludhiana, did not lead in any assembly segment during the parliamentary elections.
AAP leaders accused BJP of using the Ayodhya Ram Temple narrative to attract the urban voter. Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu added that BJP-led municipalities would unlock massive developmental funds for Punjab’s cities under Prime Minister Modi’s government.
Congress claims AAP has lost the public trust. Senior Congress leader and PPCC campaign committee chairman Rana KP Singh said the Aam Aadmi Party had lost its credibility among the people of Punjab. He argued that elections are delayed, thus losing faith and claimed that civic polls would be dominated by the Congress.
AAP Under Flak Congress contestant and three-term councillor Mamta Ashu rapped AAP MLAs for the latter’s failure to provide minimum amenities such as cleanliness for two years in a row. She appealed to voters to scrutinise whether AAP has been able to deliver the much-felt “change” in Punjab.
AAP MLA from Ludhiana West, Gurpreet Gogi, defended, “Civic body elections should be about local issues rather than national ones”. Gogi, whose wife Dr. Sukhchain Bassi is contesting from Ward 61 on an AAP ticket, accused BJP of using religious sentiment, as the Ram Temple narrative, for vote bank in parliamentary polls. He said only AAP candidates, who have the blessing of the state government, are able to meet local issues and work on civic needs.