After its triumph in Delhi Assembly elections, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Chandigarh unit has decided to replicate the Delhi model of election campaigning in the Union Territory of Chandigarh.
With elections less than a month away in Chandigarh, the party has drawn up an election campaign strategy on the pattern of its canvassing during the Delhi Assembly polls where the party registered spectacular performance winning 28 of the 70 Assembly seats.
The AAP has fielded actor- turned-politician Gul Panag from Chandigarh parliamentary seat.
From tapping into the social media to door-to-door campaigning, the party would be pulling out all the stops to ensure win of its candidate from city’s lok Sabha seat.
The party would also connect with the city residents through Nukkad Sabhas, public meetings. Besides, an appeal to the citizens to vote for AAP would be made through bulk SMS campaign and phone call campaigns to be started by the party shortly.
The party is also hopeful to cash in on the glamour and social activist image of Panag in elections and to woo the youth voters of Chandigarh. To garner the support of youth, open houses and interactions at colleges, shopping malls have been planned by the party.
According to UT Election department, more than half of the electorate in the city is below the age of 40. Of the 5.80 lakh registered voters so far, 55.99 per cent are below the age of 40. About 18,170 voters in the 18 to 19 age bracket will cast their vote for the first time.
The AAP has already initiated a unique campaign drive of sending postcards to Chandigarh residents and urging them to vote for the party candidate. The message in the hand-written postcards is “Vote, support and elect the Aam Aadmi Party, if you want a better future for your children; if you want to be part of this change and if you want to eradicate corruption from the society.”
While talking to The Pioneer, Shergil Panag, brother of Gul Panag said, “The party has already chalked out the election campaign strategy. The party volunteers, family and friends would be working hard to reach out to the city denizens to spread party’s vision.”
Elaborating about the election campaign strategy, AAP leader Dr Munish Raizada, who is looking after the election campaigning in Chandigarh said, “The party would be launching door to door campaign in Chandigarh. More than 10,000 party volunteers would work hard to disseminate party’s vision among the city denizens.”
Nukkad Sabhas, open houses, interactions at public places, colleges and shopping malls with AAP candidate Gul would be organised in the city. The general public will be apprised about the good works of AAP Government in Delhi in a short span of 49 days. For this, ‘AAP Ke Kaam’ a newspaper and other pamphlets would be distributed to the citizens,” he said.
“Apart from this, the party would soon launch a phone call campaign and SMS campaign to make an appeal to the citizens to vote for AAP candidate. The party has planned to reach out to all sections of society during its election campaigning. The party volunteers would be visiting slum colonies, sectors to meet the voters. Besides, the party would actively use social networking websites during its campaign,” he added.
Panag, a well-known face in the film industry is also likely to bring in a number of actors for canvassing during her rallies and programmes.