Chandigarh: After a landslide win in Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is eyeing getting a foothold in neighbouring Haryana in the forthcoming local bodies polls scheduled for June 19.
The AAP has not yet had any electoral representation nor any structured organisation. Even as the AAP national convenor and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has announced to hold a rally in Haryana on May 29, the AAP seems to be planning to have a political head-start from the local bodies’ polls as AAP is said to have its major basis in urban areas so far.
Even though the AAP fought all the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana in 2014, it faced a brutal drubbing like in 2019 when it fought polls in an alliance of the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) and faced the same fate. It also fared poorly in the assembly polls the same year.
Meanwhile, not only AAP, but all the other majors too have also planned to go full throttle with their canvassing. The ruling BJP has convened its executive meeting on May 27 and 28 at Hisar, its coalition partner JJP has convened its meeting on Tuesday at Panchkula on the upcoming polls. The main opposition party, Congress, too has started holding meetings on the subject making the said election a high-stake contest.
Polls on June 19
Meanwhile, Haryana state election commissioner Dhanpat Singh on Monday said that the general elections of 46 municipal bodies including 28 municipal committees and 18 municipal councils across the state would be held on June 19.
Singh informed that though the said election had become due in 2021 after completion of their 5 years terms, these could not be held in time due to the Covid-19 pandemic and later due to a civil writ petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Singh said that with the announcement, the model code of conduct had come into force and that the elections to the Faridabad municipal corporation and three other municipalities would be held later as the revision of the voters' list was still in progress.
He said that the nominations would be filed from May 30 to June 4 (except June 2, being a routine holiday), and the scrutiny of nomination papers would be done on June 6. The last date of withdrawal of candidature will be on June 7, 2022. The Election symbols will be allotted to the candidates on the same day, he informed.
The polls would be held on June 19 and the results would be out on June 22.
