Alleging a conspiracy to split Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) votes in next month’s Punjab polls, senior AAP leader and Punjab in charge Raghav Chadha on Sunday urged voters not to waste their vote on a party which was unlikely to win the elections.
In an exclusive conversation with News18.com, Chadha reiterated party convener Arvind Kejriwal’s charge that Sanyukt Samaj Morcha (SSM) could eat into AAP’s vote share by going solo.
“As the alliance isn’t happening, I would not comment on the SSM’s decision. My only appeal to voters is that they should not waste their votes on a party which is not even in the contest. They may get a few hundred, or a few thousand votes,” said Chadha.
The party incharge for Punjab reiterated that the Election Commission of India had shown undue interest in allowing registration of a new outfit. “It is unprecedented that an outfit is registered even after the dates are announced and code of conduct is in place. The EC seemed to be super eager to register the outfit in a haste and that raises suspicion that vested interest groups are conspiring to eat into AAP’s vote share,” said Chadha.
Without naming the political outfit, Chadha said, “They know we are winning the polls. They know such outfits can eat into our votes and hence such an exception is being given by ECI. The people of Punjab will see through this plan.”
Rejecting the opposition’s charge of holes in the process to get feedback to zero in on a Chief Ministerial candidate for the forthcoming assembly polls, Chadha maintained that effective procedural checks and balances were in place to ensure transparent and honest feedback.
Chadha assured that very soon the people of Punjab would know who the party’s chief ministerial face was.
“It seems that for the polls, be it Congress, BJP or Akali Dal, nobody is going to announce a CM face. It will most likely be the AAP that will go into polls with a CM candidate,” he said, adding the IT team of the party was working overtime to ensure transparency and effective checks on public polls.
“We have outsourced the decision-making process to people. This is an extremely healthy process. I have been a strong votary of referendums, one should go to people so that they can either ratify or present an alternative. I hope a clear cut comes out through this mega outreach programme,” said Chadha.
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Talking about the decision to ban public rallies till January 22, the AAP leader said all parties will have to adhere to that, but maintained that with Punjab being a state with highest density of digital penetration, the party was trying to effectively use social media platforms to reach out to voters. “We are using social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, which are widely used in the state, to reach out to the voters,” said Chadha.
Chadha said Punjab was in a mood for change. “Opinion polls indicate a direction in which people will vote. I don’t rely on these polls for seats and vote share, but it indicates the mood of the people,” he asserted.
Pointing out the difference between 2017 and 2022, Chadha said that during the last elections, the party was not able to deliver the message of Kejriwal model of governance effectively. “We were just a few years into governing Delhi that time. But now after running a successful administration and implementing successful programmes like mohalla clinics and model schools, we can tell the people of Punjab how effective the model is,” said Chadha.
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