AAP Plans To Use Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann For Haryana Assembly Elections, Focuses On Delhi Border Areas

The Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has not been able to win a single seat in Haryana, neither in the 2019 assembly elections nor in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections when it contested in alliance with the Congress.

However, it now plans to leverage its political capital in Punjab, where it has a government, by focusing on those 27 assembly seats in Haryana which are near the Punjab border.

The AAP has high hopes in Pehowa, as Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s wife Gurpreet hails from this town in the Kurukshetra district that borders Punjab, Indian Express reported.

It plans to bring in leaders from Punjab to strengthen its position in Haryana, including Mann and nearly 50 MLAs and ministers. Both Mann and Kejriwal's wife Sunita have already spoken at rallies in Haryana.

Shahbad, Kalayat, Guhla, Ambala, Tohana, Ratia, Narwana, Rania, Kalanwali and Dabwali are some other seats on AAP's priority list, where it plans to conduct door-to-door campaigns.

Apart from Punjab, AAP also has a government in Delhi and hence, it wants to focus on Rai, Sohna, Ballabgarh and Bahadurgarh seats of Haryana as they are near the Delhi border.

AAP's Haryana president Sushil Gupta has claimed that the party held 45 rallies in just 15 days recently and will declare candidates by 31 August.

"The AAP has proved that it can contest the polls, fielding the entire national leadership in Haryana (to campaign). As many as 360 block in-charges have been appointed for 90 assembly seats," he said.