Chandigarh municipal polls: AAP leads with 14 seats in maiden run

In a surprising turn, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has taken a lead in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, winning 14 seats so far, while the BJP, Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal lag behind with 12, eight and one seat respectively. Counting of the votes to the poll, conducted on Friday, is still underway.

Senior AAP leader Raghav Chadha called the result a win of “Kejriwal’s model of governance” and “a trailer” to the Punjab elections slated for next year.

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“The Chandigarh election is a trailer, Punjab will be the full movie. The mood in Chandigarh is the mood in Punjab. All are voting for AAP. Initial trends prove that people have decided to give a chance to Arvind Kejriwal,” Chadha said.

The BJP faced a rout in two wards where AAP candidates defeated its two mayors – Ravi Kant Sharma and Davesh Moudgil.

The BJP, however, has said that it is too early to call AAP the winner.

“Only final result will show which party’s vote base has shifted to AAP because BJP’s voters never shift their loyalty,” BJP’s Chandigarh spokesperson Naresh Arora told the media.

The votes polled for 35 municipal wards are being counted at nine centres since 9 am.

Results of the polls are expected to be out by the evening.

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The last municipal polls saw BJP clinching 20 wards while its ally Akali Dal won one seat. The Congress had won four seats.