Chandigarh: As AAP swept Punjab with a landslide victory, it brought gloom to several political stalwarts in the State. Here's a look at the key factors which made it possible for AAP to get a historic win.
Five hot seats that were swept by AAP
From Channi to Badal, almost every political veteran lost the election as AAP swept Punjab. 94-year-old Parkash Singh Badal and 80-year-old Captain Amarinder Singh had to face the second loss in their entire political life. Meanwhile, Charanjit Singh Channi, Navjot Singh Sidhu, and Bikram Singh Majithia, who have not lost any election to date, have also been defeated. While Channi lost from both the seats, 80% of his ministers too lost in the assembly elections.
Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Badal lost from Jalalabad and people rejected Bollywood star Sonu Sood, who was trying to enter politics by promoting his sister Malvika Sood.
Jeevan Jyot - 'Pad-woman' of Punjab
Jeevan Jyot Kaur secured a total of 39,679 votes, while Sidhu got 32,929 and Majithia 25,188. She is AAP's district president for Amritsar (Urban). This was the first time she was fighting Assembly elections or any elections for that matter. Jeevan Jyot is known as a social activist and her work on promoting menstrual hygiene gained the moniker of Amritsar's 'pad woman'. She has been the chairperson of the S.H.E. Society that creates awareness about sanitary pads made of plastic and distributes reusable sanitary pads to women. According to reports, she had tied up with a Swiss-based company to provide women with reusable pads. Seen as a common person who was pitted against political heavyweights in a sort of a David versus Goliath, she was able to score in the ongoing AAP wave in the border state.
Amritsar East, hottest seat of Punjab
Aam Aadmi Party's Jeevanjot Kaur turned into a giant slayer who defeated both Navjot Singh Sidhu and Bikram Majithia and created history. Amritsar East has been a Congress bastion for about two decades.
Hot seat in Malwa Region:
Channi lost both in the Bhadur and Malwa seats. In Malwa, AAP's Labh Singh Ugoke, who contested against CM Charanjit Channi defeated him by 37,558 votes.
69 out of 117 assembly constituencies in Punjab fall under the Malwa region. In the first elections since Capt Amarinder Singh left the party, Congress doesn't have a CM or party state president from this area while AAP won 65 out of 69 seats. For the first time in 30 years, no member of the Badal family won an assembly election.
'AAP' reached the common man with guarantee cards
AAP's victory in Punjab can be largely attributed to its electoral strategy which included a guarantee card instead of an election manifesto. And this guarantee card promised 400 units of free electricity and one thousand rupees every month to every woman above 18 years. With this, much ahead of the elections, AAP had tapped into the hearts of poor and underprivileged people.
Looking at results via Dera factor lens
Dera Sacha Sauda, who supported BJP and Akali Dal, claimed that they have 5,000 to 20,000 thousand votes in every seat. Both of them were badly defeated in Malwa, where the Dera factor is supposed to be prominent. Questions have been raised about whether devotees listened to Dera or if the very idea of the Dera factor is a myth as even in 2017 Akali got only 15 seats despite getting the support of Dera.
AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, addressing party workers and supporters post the party's victory in the Punjab polls, lauded the people of Punjab for having made the impossible possible. He said the public has given a fitting reply to leaders of all the parties that tried to corner AAP, adding that the Aam Aadmi defeated Charanjit Singh Channi in the election. He also promised that "We will make an India where no student has to go to Ukraine to study medicine."
Congress starts playing the blame-game
Though Congress faced huge defeat in both Punjab and Uttar Pradesh elections, instead of blaming it on the party, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala blamed the defeat on Capt Amarinder Singh. He said that, because people were angry with the Captain and his regime of four and half years, people did not vote for Congress.
Bhagwat Mann, who won with a record margin of 45,000 votes, will be taking his oath in Khatkar Klan, the native village of Shaheed Azam Bhagat Singh instead of Raj Bhavan. Addressing his supporters in Sangrur after victory, he said, "You guys have fulfilled your responsibility, now it's my turn".
