Lok Sabha election: In Punjab, AAP battles to reclaim its bastion of Sangrur; its unkept pre-poll promises remain a hindrance

AAP faces challenges in regaining Sangrur stronghold due to unkept promises, raising doubts among constituents for 2024 election.

As the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is toiling hard to regain its stronghold of Sangrur, which it lost in the 2022 Lok Sabha byelection, the path to victory in the 2024 general election appears to be a challenge as some people in the constituency are annoyed about unkept promises of the AAP government even in Punjab.

Sangrur parliamentary constituency, which is the home turf of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, is considered AAP’s bastion as Mr. Mann had won the Lok Sabha seat twice in 2014 and 2019.

The AAP made its mark in Punjab with a thumping majority in the 2022 Assembly polls. But within three months of assuming power, the party faced a major setback as it lost the parliamentary byelection in Sangrur constituency to Simranjit Singh Mann, a radical Sikh leader of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar).

The byelection to Sangrur Lok Sabha seat was necessitated as the segment fell vacant after Mr. Mann contested and won from Dhuri Assembly seat in the 2022 Assembly election.

At Sehna village in Barnala, Ram Kumar, who runs a tea stall, is annoyed with the government, which he says appears to be no different from the previous regimes. “Before the 2022 Assembly polls, they (AAP) promised to open Aam Aadmi clinics (mohalla clinics), so I was hoping that new clinics would come up, but actually what have they done? They (the government) have set up a clinic in the already existing building of my village’s primary health centre. They think people are fools, but it’s not the case. People can see through their intentions. But I am still hopeful as two-and-half years are left for the State government and they can still fulfil their promises to prove that they are different from other political parties,” he says.

“They should open a new clinic at some other place in the village, which would help people to access health services,” he adds.

Nodding his head regarding the issue of opening new clinics, Kulwinder Singh, a farmer, is however, happy with the State government’s effort to provide uninterrupted electricity for his farm. “These days I am getting uninterrupted power supply to use my tubewell, and the important thing is that it is during the day time, which helps me irrigate my farm work on time without staying awake at night. Earlier, the electricity for irrigating fields was supplied at night, which was a pain,” he says.