Uttar Pradesh: Buoyed by panchayat polls, AAP readies for 2022 battle

LUCKNOW: Buoyed by the 40 lakh votes its supported candidates garnered in the UP panchayat elections, Aam Aadmi Party has started preparations for the 2022 assembly polls. In the next two weeks, AAP is expected to announce an in-charge each for at least 50 assembly seats, giving priority to newly elected zila panchayat members.
Two major programmes will be undertaken by the party’s womens’ wing and CYSS, its students’ wing.Party MP and UP in-charge Sanjay Singh said that the women’s wing is set to start a protest against what it has termed the illegal confinement of at least four women linked with the Vikas Dubey incident of 2020, including a minor. On the other hand, CYSS will carry out a padayatra on unemployment.
AAP plans to appoint an in-charge for all assembly constituencies within the next two months, a list that is usually indicative of the party’s final candidates for an election going by its Delhi and Punjab model.
“Despite contesting on just 50% of the seats in the panchayat polls, AAP got 40 lakh votes or about 8-10% of the total votes for these seats. We were ahead of Congress with 85 zila panchayat members, 350 gram pradhans and 232 block development committee members. Clearly now, AAP has a presence in UP and people have started recognising us. By placing office bearers in all booths from now itself, we will ensure that our people are recognised at the local level,” said Singh
Singh said a president will be appointed for each booth and while a sector president will be appointed for every 20 booths. A three-tier system will be set up with a booth president, sector president and a block president. We have divided UP into six zones for better management, which include west, Braj, Kashi, Awadh, Bundelkhand and Purvanchal.
“Within the next 20-30 days, we should be able to open party offices in all assemblies. Along with this, a wall writing and missed call campaign will also be started. The wall writing will carry the slogan ‘UP mein bhi Kejriwal’ along with a photo of party president and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and the assembly in-charge. With the missed call campaign, we will try and increase our membership and get people to connect with the party,” Singh said.