Ludhiana: Besides Sanjeev Arora securing a victory for AAP, he also managed to improve the party’s vote share by more than 4.5% as compared to the previous Vidhan Sabha elections. Party leaders attribute this to the performance of the government and “clean image” of the party candidate.According to the data from the Election Commission of India (ECI), the AAP candidate secured a 39.02% vote share. This is a 4.56% increase from the last Vidhan Sabha elections of 2022, when the party received 34.46% vote share. The vote share increased by 18.55% since the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, when it was 20.47%. AAP district (urban) president Sharanpal Singh Makkar said that the state government’s policies, like free power, health clinics, better education facilities, provision of more than 54,000 jobs and action against drugs contributed to the change. He added that the work done by the party candidate as Rajya Sabha member over the last three years and for months his announcement as party candidate had not been matched by any other leader. He also said that Arora’s image as a development-oriented politician and his connections with industrialists helped. A party insider, asking not to be named, claimed that unlike the past several elections, the industry didn’t openly support any party candidate as openly as it did this time. He added that the support of the industry was vital as the Ludhiana West segment has a substantial population of industrialists. He also said that AAP’s united front was in stark contrast to the Congress, which was fractured by infighting. “The voter wanted development work to continue for the next one and a half years before the next Vidhan Sabha election, so they voted for the ruling party candidate,” said AAP sources.**Box 1:**AAP’s vote share in Ludh West– 2017 Vidhan Sabha elections: 24.8%– 2019 Lok Sabha elections: 1.5%– 2022 Vidhan Sabha elections: 34.46%– 2024 Lok Sabha elections: 20.47%– 2025 Vidhan Sabha bypoll: 39.02%Box 2: AAP celebrates victoryThe Aam Aadmi Party erupted in celebrations after Sanjeev Arora was declared elected from the Ludhiana (West) Assembly constituency. Supporters danced to the beat of drums and distributed sweets, as party leaders, family members, friends and volunteers congratulated Arora.Arora was accompanied by AAP Punjab president Aman Arora, Punjab cabinet minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond and a large number of party leaders and workers while he received his certificate of election from the returning officer. Arora expressed deep gratitude to AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, the party leadership and volunteers and supporters. “This is people’s victory. It is the people who contested and won this election,” he said. He even thanked his competitors.Speaking informally with mediapersons, AAP Punjab president Aman Arora described the result as a “trailer” of the 2027 Assembly elections. He affirmed that the “commitment” made by Kejriwal and Mann to induct Sanjeev Arora into the Punjab cabinet “would definitely be fulfilled.” Punjab Minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond described the victory as “historic.” MSID:: 122028834 413 |
