Punjab Assembly poll results: Despite projections, AAP candidates edgy

Ruchika M Khanna
Chandigarh, March 9

The Aam Aadmi Party continues to remain in a dilemma. While the party’s Delhi-based leadership is ecstatic at the prospect of a landslide victory, based on the exit poll projections, the state leaders are still wary of what the future holds for them. With just a few hours to go for the results to be declared, the state party leaders are still wary of putting the ring to a final tally that the party could reach on Thursday. “Hawa bani hai ya seetan vi aaniyan ne (Will the exit poll predictions actually come true?)” This is the question that most of the party candidates are asking each other.

If boisterousness of the party’s Delhi leadership is reflected in the statements issued at the behest of Delhi pollsters by the local leaders and the meetings that some of them have started having with Punjab bureaucrats and police officers, nervousness of the contestants and state leaders is also as palpable.

This is because most of them are aware of the vote consolidation that happened in favour of their political opponents, and most of them are wary before they declare an absolute majority for the party. Though most of the AAP contestants in Malwa say the “Dalit factor” and the “dera factor” did not work a 100 per cent to the advantage of the Congress, Akali Dal and the BJP, respectively, they admit at least 30-40 per cent of dera votes went to the latter two, while Dalit votes did consolidate in Doaba area, the region where most AAP leaders see themselves to be the weakest.

Unwilling to be named, these candidates, express their reservations at the exit poll results and are unwilling to claim victory till the results are finally declared.

“In urban Assembly segments also, there has been consolidation of Hindu votes in Malwa, Doaba and upper Majha… which does not bode well for our party prospects,” said a contestant from the Malwa region. Undoubtedly, the public demand for change has proved to be the wind beneath the party’s wings. It has catapulted the party from the labyrinths to soar high, especially in the Malwa region (69 seats), and gives them hope of reasonable seats in the Majha region, where the party had failed to open its account during the General Election and the 2017 Assembly elections.

Dera, Dalit factors

• AAP contestants in Malwa believe at least 30-40 per cent of dera votes went to the Akali Dal and the BJP
• Also, Dalit votes did consolidate in the Doaba area, the region where most AAP leaders see themselves to be the weakest, they said