2 civic seats under its belt, AAP makes a play for Guwahati civic polls

Choudhury pointed out that leaders from the party’s Delhi unit were part of the campaign for Guwahati. On Wednesday, Delhi MLA and senior leader Atishi led a roadshow in the city.

AAP’s national council member and the leader in charge of its affairs in Assam, Rajesh Sharma, said the party contested the municipal polls to launch itself in the state. “There is no Opposition in Assam currently,” Sharma said, adding that the Congress was in decline and the new regional parties did not have much of a base yet. This vacuum, according to him, is what the Arvind Kejriwal-led party hopes to fill.

The AAP national leader said that though the state unit was formed in 2012, the party had refrained from contesting elections till now because it lacked a grassroots organisation. “Our main idea was to reach the common man. We selected candidates after a thorough background check. In the run-up to the polls, we went to each ward,” Sharma added.

BJP’s decisive edge

There are 60 wards in the Guwahati municipality area and the BJP has already won three unopposed. Of the rest of the wards, the BJP contested 50 while its ally Asom Gana Parishad contested seven. The Congress contested 54 wards, the Assam Jatiya Parishad 25 and the CPI(M) four. According to a press release from the Assam State Election Commission, the overall voting percentage was 52.8 per cent. Votes will be counted on April 24.

Analysts believe that while the BJP has a decisive upper hand, courtesy of promises such as round-the-clock piped water and a solution to the city’s annual waterlogging woes, the AAP’s governance track record in Delhi may, in the long run, endear it to some of the middle-class — a section that accounts for a substantial share of the voters in the municipal elections.