With barely 10 days left for municipal body elections in Punjab, political parties are gearing up for a tough battle that is being billed as a referendum on the months’ long farmers’ agitation against the three new agri sector laws.
The run-up to the elections have already been marred by incidents of violence with clashes between Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Congress workers in Jalalabad on Tuesday triggered by an attack on SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal. Allegations and counter-allegations continue following the attack.
Eight municipal corporations and 109 municipal councils are scheduled to go to polls on February 14. These will be the first local body elections since the protests began in the state.
Five of the eight municipal corporations that go to polls are in the politically significant and agrarian belt of Malwa region which include Bathinda, Moga, SAS Nagar, Moga and Amritsar. Though these are essentially urban areas but have a strong farmers connect with a majority of voters here directly and indirectly linked to agriculture.
With farmers agitation taking centre-stage in Punjab’s politics these local body polls are being seen as an acid test for all political parties. A large number of the farmers from these cities have not only been in the protest for more than over two months but actively participated in the January 26 tractor parade. The ruling Congress had swept the previous elections and hopes to repeat its performance but the continued the farmers’ agitation has made the task tougher.
“The family members are camping at the border in rotation. The leaders have generally not allowed politicians to hijack the movement. So there is a sense of uncertainty on which way these farmers and their families will vote. Even if these are local body elections but interesting would be how polling is impacted due to it,” said a senior Congress leader.
The principal challenge, according to observers, could come from the Aam Admi Party (AAP) which after almost of year of internal bickering senses an opportunity to crawl its way back and give a tough fight. Not surprising that during the campaign, the AAP is targeting the Amarinder Singh-led Congress government for not doing enough to prevent the farm laws.
“The Congress, if it would have wanted, could have got it stalled right at the beginning. They (Congress) may deny these allegations but people know it,’’ claims Punjab AAP chief, Bhagwant Mann.
Though the SAD carries a baggage of its past association with the BJP going into these polls, but cannot be ignored completely. “We lost out the last Assembly elections on sacrilege issue. But we have fought our way back. And we gave up our ministerial berths at the Centre, the people of Punjab are aware of that,” said a senior SAD leader.
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