Chandigarh votes for demonetisation as SAD-BJP alliance sweeps municipal polls
Both the Congress and BJP had campaigned extensively over the issue of demonetisation, both parties trying to use it to their advantage.
The SAD-BJP alliance is eying a third consecutive victory in Punjab facing anti-incumbency of the past 10 years. (File photo)
The Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiromani Akali Dal combine swept the elections of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation winning, 21 of the 26 seats. For the BJP, which is a dominant party in the alliance here, the victory is sweeter as its candidates won on 20 of the 22 seats they contested on. The remaining four seats were given to the SAD of which they lost on three including the seat of the wife of President of the Chandigarh unit of SAD Jagjit Singh Kang.
While the humiliating defeat in Chandigarh has the Congress in a huddle here amidst allegations of misuse of official machinery and tampering of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), it has also sent alarm bells ringing in the party’s Punjab unit. The SAD-BJP alliance in Punjab is seeing it as a precursor to the impending elections in the state expected in February. Though the BJP has much to cheer about in Chandigarh, for the SAD, which is the dominant party in the alliance in Punjab the results do not seem to be a positive indicator.
Both the Congress and BJP had campaigned extensively over the issue of demonetisation, both parties trying to use it to their advantage. The senior leaders including BJP chief Amit Shah who campaigned in Chandigarh made it a prominent issue leaving aside all the local civic issues. After the results, the BJP says that this shows that people are happy with the decision of demonetization and the claims of the Congress about an undercurrent against it has been negated.
For the Congress in Chandigarh, this is the worst performance since 1996 when the party had just one councillor in the then 20 member house. It was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was then the incharge of the Chandigarh unit. The victory in the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 gave a boost to the faction ridden local unit.
The SAD-BJP alliance is eying a third consecutive victory in Punjab facing anti-incumbency of the past 10 years. The SAD will be contesting 94 seats while the BJP will contest 23 seats in Punjab as per the seat sharing arrangement of the last election. Further, the Aam Aadmi Party will be contesting the assembly elections for the first time. During the Lok Sabha elections, AAP candidates had emerged victorious on four of the 10 seats in Punjab.
Vineet Joshi, assistant media advisor, Punjab government says that the victory in Chandigarh is a positive indicator. “The result show that people are behind Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of demonetization. The negative campaign that the Congress was doing about demonetization did not work. The victory here should have a positive impact on the Punjab elections. It is a morale booster. People have supported the BJP more than even during the Lok Sabha elections,” he said.
When asked about the poor performance of the SAD, he said that none of the senior leaders of the party had come to campaign for the municipal elections unlike the BJP. So they cannot be blamed for the performance of SAD here, he said.
Meanwhile, in the Punjab unit of the Congress, senior leaders were asking their counterparts in Chandigarh about the reasons for the defeat. The result has made the party that is already struggling with infighting jittery.
A senior party leader said that the result in Chandigarh does call for some introspection. “Everyone was expecting that demonetization will have a negative impact on the fortunes of BJP. But this does not seem to be the case,” he said.
President of Chandigarh unit of Congress Pardeep Chhabra said that during the campaign, Chandigarh residents came to them saying how they were harassed due to demonetization. The results are shocking for us. The BJP has misused official machinery. If the election is conducted again using ballot papers, we will emerge victorious, he said.
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