AAP AND A NEW DAWN

PUNJAB’S DISILLUSIONED VOTERS HAVE THROWN OUT THE OLD, AND ARE LOOKING FOR A CLEAN START WITH AAP. NEW CM BHAGWANT MANN HAS A BIG TASK ON HIS HANDS

- ANILESH S. MAHAJAN

WITHIN THE FIRST HOUR of counting in Punjab, the sound of bursting firecrackers and jubilant dhols erupted in the otherwise sleepy town of Dhuri. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supporters wielding brooms—the party’s election symbol—had reached the residence of Bhagwant Mann, their local candidate and AAP’s chief ministerial face. By lunchtime, the celebrations had spread across the state as AAP headed for a historic landslide with 92 seats (42 per cent vote share).

Mann, a popular comedian turned-politician in the mould of the Italian Beppe Grillo or Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, has earned quite a cult following with his merciless broadsides against the political est abolishment. The Sangrur MP since 2014, Mann’s wit-laced oratory has created its own niche in the Lok Sabha. And back home, those relentless barbs helped keep voters healthily sceptical of Punjab’s two heavyweights, Parkash Singh Badal of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Amarinder Singh (formerly Congress), and their parties. That gave voice to the voters’ disenchantment with conventional parties.

This feeling left its mark in the elections as big names in Punjab’s politics tasted dust. The list included, among others, sitting chief minister Charanjit Channi, who lost from both Chamkaur Sahib and Badhaur constituencies; Punjab Congress chief Navjot Sidhu, who lost in Amritsar East; Parkash Singh Badal, evicted from his traditional seat, Lambi; his son and SAD party chief Sukhbir Badal lost in Jalalabad; and finance minister Manpreet Badal was defeated in the Bathinda Rural seat. Capt. Amarinder Singh, the former chief minister, too lost in his Patiala stronghold. AAP candidates were the winners in all these places.