By Press Trust of India: The AAP on Sunday said victory of its candidates in the Uttar Pradesh civic polls is an indication that people of the state have started supporting Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s “politics of work” over that of religion and caste.
According to the UP State Election Commision, the AAP on Saturday won three Nagar Palika chairman seats, six Nagar Panchayat chairman seats and six Nagar Nigam councillor seats along with several wards in the just concluded urban local body elections.
More than half of the AAP candidates, who emerged victorious from various seats, belonged to the minority community, according to the poll results available on the state poll panel’s website.
“People of Uttar Pradesh have expressed their unwavering support for the politics of change by overwhelmingly endorsing the AAP candidates. They have rejected caste and religion-based politics, and supported Kejriwal’s work-oriented politics,” party MP and in-charge of UP Sanjay Singh told reporters here.
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AAP national convener Kejriwal will soon visit UP to express gratitude to the people for their “overwhelming support” in the civic elections, he added. The ruling BJP won the mayoral elections in all 17 municipal corporations and bagged 813 of the 1,420 corporator posts. The opposition Samajwadi Party bagged 191 corporator posts and the Bahujan Samaj Party 85.
The urban local body polls were held in two phases — on May 4 and May 11. “Throughout the election campaign, we focused on talking about Delhi model of governance, highlighting the transformative work done by Chief Minister Kejriwal in areas such as education, healthcare, electricity, and water,” Singh said.
During the poll campaign, the party also highlighted the Bhagwant Mann government’s work in Punjab, he said . “The Aam Aadmi Party’s campaign centred around politics of work, not politics of caste or religion,” he added. Terming the results of the local body polls as “inspiring and exciting”, Singh asserted that the AAP will work hard to meet the aspirations of the people in UP. Meanwhile, Kejriwal on Sunday held a “crucial meeting” to discuss and formulate future strategy for UP, the party said in a statement. “The focus of the meeting was on ensuring the activation and success of all party units in Uttar Pradesh, leveraging the momentum gained from our recent victories,” the party added.
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