Poll race: AAP a pacesetter as others yet to get off the blocks

Chandigarh : Chief minister Bhagwant Mann is on the road in Punjab, addressing public meetings and holding road shows to garner support for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidates for the upcoming parliamentary elections, even as rival parties, particularly the Congress, are still to finalise their candidates for several constituencies.

Mann hit the campaign trail last week after introducing all 13 Lok Sabha nominees to party workers and telling them he would go to each parliamentary constituency 3-4 times. The party was first off the blocks with the announcement of eight candidates on March 14 and completed its line-up a week ago.

The rival parties, on the other hand, are still in the process of naming their candidates for the four-way fight in the state. The Congress has declared its candidates for eight seats, two of them on Monday.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which released its first list of seven candidates on April 13, also released the names of its nominees for five constituencies on Monday, taking the total to 12.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced nine candidates.

Campaign themes: Kejriwal’s arrest, govt’s achievements

The AAP is already in full-on campaign mode on the ground and in the digital arena, with Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s incarceration and the state government’s achievements being the focal points. The party is trying to leverage its national convener’s arrest to galvanise the party cadres and project itself as the main challenger of the BJP in the fight to “Save the Constitution.”

It is also pushing campaigns like ‘Jail da jawab vote’ and ‘Modi ka sabse bada dar Kejriwal’ on social media, using memes, short video clips, photos, and posts with stinging captions and hashtags.

The poll campaign’s other central theme focuses on the fulfilment of the 2022 state election guarantees with 300 units of free power, 43,000 government jobs, free treatment at 800 Aam Aadmi Clinics, development of Schools of Eminence, freeing up of toll plazas and anti-corruption campaign.

AAP’s Anandpur Sahib candidate Malvinder Singh Kang, who started his campaign immediately after his candidature was announced on April 2, said it is going full steam ahead. “We have already held meetings with the party volunteers of all nine assembly segments in the constituency, and I am now campaigning in big villages and also holding rallies to mobilise youths,” said the party’s state chief spokesperson.

The Congress and BJP are still to declare their candidates from Anandpur Sahib, while the SAD has fielded former MP Prem Singh Chandumajra.

The early announcement of candidates also comes with its share of challenges, said a party candidate, who did not want to be named. “There is still a lot of time left for the election. I have started campaigning, but polling in Punjab will take place in the seventh and final phase on June 1. We still have 40 days. I am not sure how I am going to sustain it. There is also the issue of funding,” he said.

Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa also recently denied any delay in the announcement of candidates, stating that both the AAP and BJP have deep pockets. “No campaign can last more than 20 days unless you have huge money,” he said.