New Delhi, Feb 7 (IANS) Despite the hype created around the party in the 2017 Assembly elections, the Aam Aadmi Party had fallen way behind the Congress when results were announced. It looks all set to turn the tables in the current elections.
According to a CVoter-ABP News opinion poll released on Monday evening, the AAP is set to win Punjab with a wafer-thin majority while the Congress appears to be way behind, with the Akali Dalled alliance and the BJP-led alliance in collaboration with former Congress chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh trail behind the two leading contenders.
According to the final results of the poll, the AAP is projected to win between a range of 55 to 63 seats - the upper end of the range ensuring a majority for the party for the first time.
The Congress which recently announced the state's first Dalit Chief Minister as their CM candidate seems to be too far behind a majority with a projection of between 24 to 30 seats.
The alliance with the BSP doesn't seem to have helped the Akali Dal which ruled Punjab in alliance with the BJP between 2007 and 2017. The alliance is projected to win between 20 to 26 seats in the elections.
The BJP-led alliance is nowhere in the picture, projected to win between 3 to 11 seats.
If the findings of the opinion poll hold true when results are declared on March 10, analysts blame the intense infighting within the Congress that seems set to offer Punjab on a platter to AAP. Again, if the polls turn out to be close to actual results, Arvind Kejriwal would be on his way to a role in national politics.
Harcharan Bains, Principal Advisor to SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal, shared documents pertaining to the reported abuse of the state intelligence wing by a private company, Movedek Politico. Bains said there are credible reports that the highest-ranked police officers of the state were asked to collaborate with the private company in intelligence gathering.
Two-time Member of Parliament and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief ministerial candidate Bhagwant Mann will be contesting from Dhuri in the February 20 polls in Punjab. The announcement was made by state affairs co in-charge Raghav Chadha in Mohali on Thursday.
The party alleged that family members of Charanjit Singh Channi, a leader of the Congress, are being targeted in order to create a perception and influence electors into believing that Sardar Charanjit Singh Channi through his family members and the Indian National Congress is involved in the allegations of money laundering.
A complaint against Prateek Yadav, the younger son of Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, had been sent to the investigating agencies in 2021 alleging fake companies being run by him. Prateek Yadav has a brother-in-law, Aman Singh Bisht, the younger brother of his wife Aparna Yadav.
National carrier Air India will commence normal operations to US from Friday, the airline said. On Tuesday, the national carrier said that it will not be able to operate a number of US-bound flights due to the deployment of 5G communications in the US.
Terming the nomination of Mann as a stage managed non-event, the SAD President said AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal never wanted to make Mann the face of the party in Punjab.
