Punjab Assembly Elections 2022: Testing time for dreams, aspirations and challenges of the ‘Aam Aadmi’

While the counting of votes is yet to take place and people’s final mandate is still to be declared, the exit polls have raised the expectations of the common man by projecting their third choice the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as a probable winner of the Punjab Legislative Assembly elections.

Though only the final results declared post-enumeration on March 10, would certify the validity of these polls, the AAP is being projected to have made a clean sweep of Punjab with a margin of 70-90 seats out of a total of 117 assembly seats, fanning the fires of public euphoria and expectations of the masses, who have pinned high hopes of as “claimed” ‘good governance’ on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's.

In 2017, AAP had only won on 20 seats as against the 77 of Congress, 15 of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).  However about ten of his elected MLA’s have left the party in last five years. The BJP, meanwhile, had won only on three seats in 2017. However, this time if AAP comes to power, it would be a massive change for both the party, which has by far largely catered to an urban populace and culture of the Union Territory of Delhi, as well as for Punjab, which has a majority of rural voters.

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AAP would be playing in a new arena, with a whole host of new challenges, a majority of which have never been tended to even by the legendary parties of the state. The party’s manifesto promises a host of freebies and sops to the Punjabi voters on being voted to power, but it will have to go beyond allurements to catch the pulse of the state concentrated mainly in rural Punjab and tackle the issues pertaining to the same.

Even as, AAP proposes the Delhi-model for Punjab, which includes good health and education facilities and much more, attaining which would be a major challenge for them.  A “Delhi model” which has yet to be tested by the inhabitants of Punjab. While the state of education has remained quite deplorable in Punjab till date, particularly in the rural areas, health facilities are scant.

The hospitals are situated quite far-off from the villages and are, therefore, inaccessible and ill-equipped with staff, medical supplies and other facilities. A far cry from Delhi, Punjab is by and large an agrarian state with agriculture being concentrated mainly in the rural areas spanning almost 50 thousands square kilometers. At least 62 per cent of Punjab’s electorate lives in these areas.

Taking care of these areas would require a lot of hard work on the part of the AAP considering the fact that these are farmer-dominated turfs with tricky agricultural issues that have hitherto been left unaddressed by even the legendary parties of the state including Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). Considering AAP’s performance in Delhi and the change of leadership in Punjab, the farmers in the state would look towards the new party to resolve their issues and offer effective solutions.

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If the final results validate the veracity of the exit polls, it would become all the more important to analyze the reasons behind people’s choice of AAP. Of these, the foremost would be the anti-incumbency factor. A majority of important issues as education, health, good civic infrastructure and much more, still remain a chimera for the masses as these have not been addressed by the present and previous governments over the years.

The next would be, the absence of a third viable option. The tradional parties had ruled long without offering something new to look forward to, to the masses. If AAP wins, it would mean that the voters have finally found the alternative they desired. The infighting within the ruling Congress party might turn out to be another reason, if AAP wins the election.

On top of that, AAP’s campaigning was quite managerial due to their use of the social media and the advent of the party’s brass in Punjab for campaigning. However, nothing can be rightly said at the moment. The exit polls are not always right. The real winner would only emerge on the scene post counting of votes on March 10.

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