Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia on Thursday lauded the party's performance in the Punjab Assembly polls, saying that the victory is an acceptance of the Arvind Kejriwal model of governance.
"Punjab has given chance to Kejriwal's model of governance. Today, his model of governance has been established at the national level," said Sisodia.
Adding that the Kejriwal model includes focusing on education, healthcare, employment opportunities and women safety, Sisodia said, "Kejriwal is fulfilling the dream of freedom fighters, BR Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh. This is not a victory of the AAP but a win of the common men."
On the party's poor performance in other states, the AAP leader said, "we had fielded candidates in Goa, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, but somewhere the focus was on Punjab. Gradually people in these states will also start to believe in our party."
Earlier in the day the AAP leader Raghav Chadha had also said that the party is now a natural replacement of Congress.
"In future, Arvind Kejriwal will be the principal challenger of the BJP, and AAP will be Congress' national and natural replacement," said Chadha.
Meanwhile, the AAP workers and supporters across the country began celebrating the party's stellar performance in the Punjab polls.
As per the Election Commission of India, Aam Aadmi Party is leading in 89 seats on the 117 seat Punjab Assembly at 11:35 AM, followed by Congress (15) and Shiromani Akali Dal (8).
If AAP wins Punjab, it will be the party's maiden victory in the state and a vast improvement from its performance in the 2017 elections when it had finished second behind Congress.
Congress went into the polls, battling factionalism and anti-incumbency. The party changed its Chief Minister in September last year even as the party's new state unit chief Navjot Singh Sidhu hinted about his own chief ministerial ambitions. Congress finally declared Charanjit Singh Channi as the first Dalit Chief Minister of Punjab, endorsing him for the chief ministerial face days before the polling on February 20.
The Shiromani Akali Dal, which had broken off the alliance with the BJP over the three farm laws that were eventually repealed, tied up with Bahujan Samaj Party for the Assembly elections.
It is the first time that the BJP fought on over 65 seats in Punjab. It tied up with former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh's Punjab Lok Congress and SAD (Sanyukt) led by SS Dhindsa.
Punjab recorded an average voter turnout of 65.50 per cent on February 20 compared to over 77 per cent in 2017.
( With inputs from ANI )
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