mann-redeems-sagging-aap-morale-by-winning-jalandhar-west

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has managed to redeem the sagging morale of the Aam Aadmi Party, not only in Punjab but at the national level as well after a severe drubbing in the General Elections. 

 

While it was no doubt very important for him personally to win the Jalandhar West by-election, for the party at the national level this victory must have come as a fresh breeze and Mann deserves the credit for it. 

 

Even if the AAP had not won the seat, it would still command a massive majority in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha. It had won 92 seats in 2022.

 

Right now, it has 91, as Barnala remains vacant with its MLA Meet Hayer having been elected to the parliament. Jalandhar West had fallen vacant after the sitting AAP MLA Sheetal Angural switched over to the BJP before the parliamentary elections. 

 

There are four more assembly by-elections scheduled for Punjab. These include Barnala, Gidderbaha, Chabewal and Dera Baba Nanak. Of these, the AAP represented Barnala only, while the remaining three were with the Congress. 

 

The by-election to these four assembly elections will not be as impactful as the Jalandhar West. This election was held in the immediate aftermath of the General Elections, where AAP performed badly, winning just three of the 13 parliamentary constituencies. An adverse result from here could have proved the last proverbial straw on the camel’s back, which Mann did not let happen.

 

It is not just Punjab alone, where the AAP performed poorly. Rather, in Punjab AAP still did better by still winning three constituencies, while in Delhi, where the AAP was in alliance with the Congress and contested four seats, it lost all. Even the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, which was expected to generate some sympathy for the party in Delhi, did not help.

 

Compared to that, in Punjab, AAP went solo and still won three constituencies, which no doubt is not a good score by any standard. Since the AAP could not win any other seat, although it contested in Haryana, Gujarat, Assam and Goa also, from anywhere in the country, Punjab again proved to be the saving grace for the third time. 

 

The AAP, so far, has got the Lok Sabha representation from Punjab only since 2014 when it won four seats from here, in the first General Elections it contested as a political party. In 2019, it won only the Sangrur parliamentary constituency from where Bhagwant Mann, who is now the Chief Minister, got reelected. He later resigned after becoming the Chief Minister in 2022.

 

When the by-election was announced for Jalandhar West, the AAP was on a very weak wicket. In the parliamentary elections held just 40 days before the by-election, the AAP had got just 15629 votes from this assembly segment, trailing by 28,765 votes behind the Congress and the BJP. It was a poor third then. 

 

Knowing well the odds, Mann still picked up the gauntlet taking a big gamble, and announced that he would be shifting his base to Jalandhar, where he rented a private house. He will be staying here for two days a week. Initially, the AAP central/Delhi leadership had even floated the idea of not fighting the by-election under Mann’s leadership.

 

While some said it was aimed at protecting his image in case the party lost, others felt that the central leadership wanted to take control of the party’s work in Punjab.

 

Whatever the reasons, Mann stepped in and led from the front. He remained in the constituency round the clock. His wife Dr Gurpreet Kaur, besides his cabinet colleagues, legislators and other leaders also joined him. 

 

Mann’s presence actually made the difference that helped the party to win with a massive margin of 37,325 votes. The AAP multiplied its number of votes over the parliamentary elections by almost 4 times. While in the parliamentary elections it had got 15629 votes, this time it polled 55246 votes. 

 

It was indeed a great redemption after the serious drubbing in the parliamentary elections, both in Punjab as well as Delhi and other states where AAP had fielded its candidates. 

 

Mann took a great gamble, which he eventually won emphatically and impressively with a huge margin.