Maiden civic body polls: AAP on Punjab rout

Chandigarh, Feb 17 (IANS) After facing a rout in urban local body polls that indicated urban voters have lost faith in the faction-ridden party in Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday played it down, saying it was the first time it had contested civic polls in the state.Leader of Opposition and AAP leader Harpal Singh Cheema said the results were a good sign as the party's base and vote share in urban areas had increased."This is a good sign for the party that the AAP will be even stronger in the urban areas by 2022," he said in a statement.He said the winning councillors would serve the people of their wards as 'sewadars'.He claimed the results showed that AAP would win the forthcoming Punjab Assembly election by a landslide. He said the party must have some shortcomings in this election and these shortcomings would be rectified after self-assessment.The AAP leader said in future the youth would also be mobilised by strengthening the party units in the urban areas.Punjab's ruling Congress won six of the seven municipal corporations with an absolute majority and emerged as the largest party in the seventh one.Elsewhere, the Congress won 1,199 of the 1,815 wards in municipal councils in the state.
--IANS vg/kr