The Punjab question for AAP: Can it meet its own raised bar with zero power bills, mohalla clinics?

And that is what he has been telling voters as he criss-crosses the state to spearhead the AAP’s campaign. “Vote for AAP if you think we have delivered on our promises. Vote for my candidate, kam di guarantee main dinda haan (I guarantee development),” he urges the people at his rallies, tailoring his message to suit his listeners at each campaign stop.

At Patiala’s Mehraj, the ancestral village of former Congress CM Captain Amarinder Singh, who is now with the BJP, Mann reminds the locals of their “misplaced” loyalty to Amarinder who, he says, has joined a party that “forced” the protesting farmers to sit on the Delhi border for over a year (2020-21).

At another rally in support of actor Karamjit Anmol, the AAP’s candidate from Faridkot, Mann highlights how both he and Anmol left successful careers in the entertainment field to serve the people and create jobs.

In Bathinda, Mann, a former comedian, performs a “Kikli” (spoof) on Harsimrat Badal, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)’s candidate and ex-Union minister, much to the crowd’s amusement.

With Punjab’s 13 seats going to polls in the seventh and final phase on June 1, Mann warns voters against returning to the old parties. “Are you ready for June 1? Bahut dookhi kita ehna ne. Eh rore chak deyo. Tin saal ehi sarkar de paye ne (These parties have given you a lot of grief. Remove these roadblocks. Remember, the AAP government has three more years to go).”

In his campaign, the AAP’s national convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, who is currently out on bail, is seeking sympathy votes from the Punjab people, who often support those they perceive as being victimised, especially by the Centre.

The AAP seeks to tap into such sentiments as it hits back at Union Home Minister Amit Shah over his claim that the Mann government would not last long after the BJP’s “landslide victory” in the polls. “Amit Shah hurt the dignity of Punjab. Punjabis will never forgive him or the BJP,” Mann thundered at a press conference in Bathinda Monday.

However, the Punjab voters, who gave the AAP an unprecedented mandate in the form of 92 seats out of 117 in the February 2022 Assembly polls, seem to be showing signs of impatience, even though there has been a widespread acknowledgment that the Mann government has kept its promise of providing 300 units of free power per month to the people.

Jagmohan Singh, general secretary of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Dakaunda), the second-largest farm union in Punjab, is upset with the government for the recent “house arrests” of farmers during the visits of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah to Gurdaspur and Ludhiana. He, however, admits that the AAP has done a “good job” of providing free power. “Even though it’s very hot these days, there are fewer power cuts, which I had never experienced earlier,” he says.

The free power scheme is viewed as a tangible benefit by consumers in various income brackets across the state. Ritesh Sharma, a well-off professional from Mohali, may not be an AAP fan but admits that it was a “pleasant surprise” to receive a zero power bill this winter. For many, it is a much-needed saving.

The Aam Aadmi Clinics, offering a host of free diagnostic services and medicines, are also popular in villages. At Garhshankar near Phagwara, Avtar Singh, a trader, praises the clinics. “I only hope they can retain doctors who don’t like serving in rural areas,” he says.

Picchaura Singh, a numberdar (village chief) in Kala Panal village near the Indo-Pak border, expresses gratitude for the compound walls built around local schools. “I also feel there is less corruption in the revenue department. Earlier, it was impossible to get a certified copy of your land records without a bribe. Now, you get a computerised ‘fard’ (land record) free of cost.”

Farmers in Ferozepur’s border belt seem to be pleased with the repair of canals, which has increased the water flow. The Schools of Eminence in Amritsar and Bathinda are impressive, too. They have received over 1.5 lakh applications for 20,000 seats, according to education minister Harjot Bains.

Yet, neither these schools nor the 40,000 jobs the AAP dispensation claims to have given are part of conversations on the streets, where the mood appears to be grim.

The data from the past five Lok Sabha elections in Punjab indicate that the incumbent party typically has an advantage in it — a factor that helped the Congress secure eight seats in the 2019 polls, just three years before its rout in the Assembly elections. The AAP had then won just one seat, with the remaining four won by the then SAD-BJP coalition.

The AAP’s electoral track record has been a mixed bag. Barely three months after sweeping the state in February 2022 polls, the party lost its first Lok Sabha by-election from Sangrur, CM Mann’s home turf, to Simranjit Singh Mann, president of the hardline SAD (Amritsar). This loss was partly attributed to voter fatigue, as turnout fell by 30%. But to its credit, the AAP won the Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll the very next year.

A top AAP functionary told The Indian Express that the party has a “robust system” of informing voters about the government’s schemes and receiving feedback. It has also learnt the “science of fighting and winning elections”, he said.

However, on the ground, there seems to be significant anti-incumbency, mainly due to perceived “inaccessibility” of many AAP MLAs. The party boasts of a record 88 first-time MLAs in its legislature group, a fact the CM often highlights. However, voters across the state, from Amritsar to Barnala, complain that the “Aam Aadmi” has become “Khaas” (entitled) and that many of its MLAs have been “missing” from their constituencies since the 2022 victory. This time, the AAP has fielded five of its ministers as well as three MLAs.

Nirmal Singh, an elderly educated farmer from Manawa village near Faridkot, echoes a common sentiment. Last time, his entire village had voted for the AAP, but now it could be a “mixed affair”.

“They (AAP) told us lies,” he alleges, referring to the still unfulfilled promise of a 1,000-rupee monthly stipend for women. “They also promised to hike the old age pension and provide MSP on crops other than wheat and paddy, which is not within their jurisdiction.”

Pamma Singh, a daily-wager at Kot Isse Khan mandi, claims he used to receive more free grain under the previous Congress regime than now.

The scourge of drugs remains a burning issue, one that has plagued previous governments. Captain Amarinder had sworn by the holy book to banish drugs from the state within two months of taking over the reins, a pledge he failed to fulfil. Mann has also promised to eradicate drugs by the upcoming Independence Day. Yet, people in both rural and urban areas say that drugs are still readily available.

In Bathinda, traders complain about increasingly frequent “extortion calls”. “There is an atmosphere of fear here,” says Pankaj Katia, a local trader.

Though both the AAP and the Congress are members of the Opposition INDIA bloc and are contesting as allies in states like Delhi and Haryana, the two parties are the main rivals in Punjab. With the Sukhbir Badal-led SAD and the BJP also contesting separately after decades of alliance, the state is witnessing a multi-cornered contest, whose outcome is difficult to predict. As Rohit Jindal, a Bathinda-based communications professional, puts it, “Any candidate who safeguards his votes will have an edge.”