AAP in no rush to hold MC polls

Chandigarh: Despite winning the high-stake Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll last month, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leadership is planning to defer elections in five municipal corporations and 41 municipal councils of the state till September.
The term of Amritsar, Patiala, Jalandhar and Ludhiana municipal corporations ended in January, while the Phagwara municipal corporation is scheduled to go to polls for the first time after being constituted in 2020.
AAP sources said the local leaders in cities like Ludhiana wanted to get some developmental projects finalised for their areas to brighten their prospects in the elections and the party was, therefore, in no rush to hold the elections. Uma Shakar Gupta, director, local bodies department, said the exercise of delimitation of wards, in view of the population growth over the last five years, should be complete by the month-end. He said the date of the elections would be decided after that.
AAP state general secretary Harchand Singh Barsat said the party was ready for the elections. Elections are likely to be held in September, even though a final decision is yet to be taken by the state government, he said, adding that the elections to civic bodies and panchayat samities could be held simultaneously. AAP chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang said the party was confident of doing well as voters were satisfied with its performance and the recent win in the Jalandhar proved that.
The party MLAs in key cities have been holding meetings and strategising for the upcoming polls for a while now. Ajit Pal Singh Kohli, AAP legislator from Patiala, who is also a former mayor of the city, said the party cadres were braced up for the elections.
The four poll-bound civic bodies were swept by the Congress in the last elections. This time, the AAP leadership is hoping to reverse the trend. The party has particularly gained confidence from the landslide win in the 2022 state elections.