AFTER DELHI DEBACLE, AAP BETS ON LUDHIANA BYPOLL

AAP faced a defeat in the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation polls in December, winning 41 out of the 95 wards, falling short of the majority mark.

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Soon after its humiliating defeat in the Delhi Assembly elections at the hands of the BJP, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has set its sights on the Ludhiana West Assembly bypoll in Punjab-a contest that is already shaping up to be a fierce battle.

With the poll schedule yet to be announced, AAP's entire leadership, including national convener Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, has shifted their focus to the state's prominent industrial town by launching an aggressive campaign in support of Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora, who has been declared as the party's candidate.

The bypoll is necessitated following the death of sitting AAP MLA Gurpreet Gogi due to an accidental firing in January. The election appears to be a litmus test for the Bhagwant Mann government, as the party was already on shaky ground following its poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections. In those elections, it won only three out of 13 Lok Sabha seats in the state, with a 26% share of the polled votes. In Ludhiana, Congress state president Amrinder Raja Warring won by a margin of 20,942 votes, defeating BJP's Ravneet Bittu. AAP remained in third place with only 2.37 lakh or 22% vote share.

These disappointing results from the previous elections could be cited as a key reason behind AAP's extra-conscious campaign in the Ludhiana West bypoll.

Even in 2022, when AAP swept the Assembly elections by winning 92 seats with 42% of the votes, its candidate in Ludhiana West only secured 35% of the 1.80 lakh votes, and the victory margin for Gurpreet Gogi was only 7,512 votes against Congress's two-time MLA Bharat Bhushan Ashu, who garnered 32,931 votes.