The winds of change are knocking on the doors of Punjab. After campaigning for over two months, the state election results are going to be announced today. The counting of votes is already underway. At the time of filing this story out of 117 seats in Punjab, AAP was leading in 89 seats. Congress that had won the 2017 election is leading in 13, while SAD has taken a lead in 9. BJP is currently in lead in 5 places. The one seat seems to be going to an others candidate.
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Here are five reasons why the people of Punjab may have opted for the AAP
1) Change is the flavour of the season
One big reason for the victory for AAP in Punjab is being credited to people wanting a change. In the state, it has been SAD-BJP alliance and Congress that had been elected by the people. SAD-BJP had a 24-year long relationship, which has now been called off. Congress had come to power in the state in 2007 and 2012. People of Punjab believe that the traditional parties that have been ruling the state for 70 years have not been able to be get the desired results.
2) The politics of farm laws
The farm laws reforms had not gone down well with the people of Punjab and they had been protesting against them for over a year. Ahead of the elections, these laws were repealed. However, they have left a deep mark in the minds of the voters.
3) The AAP model
AAP had based their campaign on the success it had got in Delhi. The freebie politics of free bijli and paani was coupled with education and health. This connected well with the people since health and education have been the two things that the state has been struggling with. Moreover, the electricity rates too are extraordinarily high in Punjab. Touching these pain points, helped AAP to make inroads in Punjab.
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4) Youth and women
When Kejriwal first rose to the limelight, he spoke about being the voice of Aam Aadmi and touched the chords of the nation with an anti-corruption narrative. This helped him sweep Delhi. Now, the same narrative seems to have helped him connect with Punjab. The youth and the women in the state are especially in favour of this change which they feel will help in dealing with statewide corruption.
Read also: AAP’s Bhagwant Mann tries to woo voters in high-stakes Dhuri battle
5) Bhagwant Mann impact
AAP has announced Bhagwant Mann as their CM candidate. This helped the party in establishing a local connect and people stopped treating them as an outsider. Mann too had a strong connect. Also, people connected with his “connected to the soil” image that gelled well with the AAP’s narrative of anti-corruption as well.
The final results will be in later today but this change in Punjab can impact the politics on the national level.
