AAP faced a defeat in the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation polls in December, winning 41 out of the 95 wards, falling short of the majority mark.
CHANDIGARH: Soon after its humiliating defeat in the Delhi Assembly elections at the hands of the BJP, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has set its sights on the Ludhiana West Assembly bypoll in Punjab—a contest that is already shaping up to be a fierce battle.
With the poll schedule yet to be announced, AAP’s entire leadership, including national convener Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, has shifted their focus to the state’s prominent industrial town by launching an aggressive campaign in support of Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora, who has been declared as the party’s candidate.
The bypoll is necessitated following the death of sitting AAP MLA Gurpreet Gogi due to an accidental firing in January. The election appears to be a litmus test for the Bhagwant Mann government, as the party was already on shaky ground following its poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections. In those elections, it won only three out of 13 Lok Sabha seats in the state, with a 26% share of the polled votes. In Ludhiana, Congress state president Amrinder Raja Warring won by a margin of 20,942 votes, defeating BJP’s Ravneet Bittu. AAP remained in third place with only 2.37 lakh or 22% vote share.
These disappointing results from the previous elections could be cited as a key reason behind AAP’s extra-conscious campaign in the Ludhiana West bypoll. Even in 2022, when AAP swept the Assembly elections by winning 92 seats with 42% of the votes, its candidate in Ludhiana West only secured 35% of the 1.80 lakh votes, and the victory margin for Gurpreet Gogi was only 7,512 votes against Congress’s two-time MLA Bharat Bhushan Ashu, who garnered 32,931 votes.
Furthermore, AAP faced another defeat in the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation polls in December of last year, winning only 41 out of the 95 wards, falling short of the majority mark. Sukhchain Kaur Gogi, wife of the then-sitting MLA from Ludhiana West, Gurpreet Gogi, lost to Congress’s Parminder Kaur in ward number 61. With AAP’s political fortunes dwindling, especially after the Delhi elections, Kejriwal and Mann are pulling out all the stops to retain Ludhiana West. The duo has already kickstarted the election campaign and addressed public meetings.
“If you elect an AAP candidate, he will bring all government officials here to do your work. But if you elect a Congress or BJP candidate, not only will it impact the development of Ludhiana, but they will also not be able to work for you under an AAP government,” Kejriwal cautioned voters in Ludhiana West during his visit. After completing three years in office, Mann is facing growing anti-incumbency due to his failure to address long-pending issues of drugs and corruption in the state. Kejriwal, in his addresses, promised a crackdown on corruption and the drug menace, blaming the previous governments for Punjab’s downfall.
“Cleaning 70 years of filth is not easy, but we are doing it with our broom,” he told the crowd.
Even Mann, in his rallies, tried to give a strong message against corrupt officers.
“Officials supporting those caught in corruption cases attempted to ‘blackmail’ the government by harassing the public, but this cannot be tolerated, and the crackdown on corruption will continue,” he told the crowd, referring to the protest threat by Tehsildars.
Political observers believe that AAP’s sudden crackdown on protesting farmers was also linked to the Ludhiana bypoll, as industrialists were suffering huge losses due to the blockade of key highway NH 44. Another factor behind AAP’s aggressive campaign is its candidate Sanjeev Arora, who will need to sacrifice his Rajya Sabha membership to contest the election. Arora will be completing three years in office on April 10. Having a vast wealth of over Rs 460 crores, as per his election affidavit, Arora is not a traditional politician. He has become a target for opposition leaders, who accuse him of leaving his upper house membership to make way for Kejriwal, who lost the Delhi Assembly election.During a press conference, alongside top police officers of Ludhiana after the crackdown on farmers, Arora attempted to win the support of Ludhiana residents, announcing that he was working hard for their safety and that the city’s traffic police strength had been increased due to new deployments.
On the other hand, Congress is also gearing up for a tough fight, with former minister and two-time MLA Bharat Bhushan Ashu being the frontrunner for the party ticket. Ashu, who was arrested by the AAP government in the alleged foodgrain scam but later acquitted, has started holding meetings in Ludhiana and accused Kejriwal of playing politics of vendetta.
“AAP’s governance is all about fake promises. The people of Ludhiana West are intellectuals, and they won’t fall for Kejriwal’s drama,” he said.
The BJP, which enjoys strong support in the urban belt of Ludhiana, has not yet declared its candidate. However, internal party sources have revealed that the leadership has already started working on the ground for a formidable fight. BJP’s Ludhiana district president, Rajnish Dhiman, accused Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann of misusing government machinery and slammed the Mann government for its failure to clean the polluted Buddha Nullah, one of the burning issues of Ludhiana.
Amid growing anti-incumbency sentiment due to AAP’s inability to deliver, the Ludhiana West bypoll is poised to be an acid test for Kejriwal and Mann. The contest is not just about retaining a seat but also about proving that AAP still holds political credibility in Punjab—the only state it holds in the country.