In a major political move, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has unveiled its candidates for the upcoming rural local body elections in Chandigarh. On Wednesday, the party released four separate lists containing a total of 2,931 nominees who will contest the zila parishad and panchayat samiti polls scheduled for December 14.
Breaking Down the Candidate Lists
The party's first list featured 961 candidates. This was followed by two subsequent lists containing 1,137 and 622 nominees, respectively. A final fourth list rounded out the announcement with 211 more names, bringing the total to just under three thousand aspirants. The election results are set to be declared on December 17.
Election Schedule and High Stakes
The nomination process for candidates commenced on December 1. December 4 is the final date for filing nominations, with scrutiny of papers to be conducted on December 5. Candidates can withdraw their nominations until December 6. These elections, originally due in May 2025, were postponed due to assembly bypolls and the recent floods in the region.
Political analysts are viewing these polls as a crucial litmus test for all political parties in the state, as they are the last major electoral exercise before the 2027 assembly elections. Voters will elect members for 357 zones across 23 zila parishads and 2,863 zones across 154 panchayat samitis, with one member elected per zone.
Massive Electorate and Infrastructure
The scale of the election is vast. The total number of registered voters stands at a staggering 1,36,04,650. This includes 71,64,972 male voters, 64,39,497 female voters, and 181 voters in the 'other' category. To facilitate this massive democratic exercise, the administration will set up 19,181 polling booths across the region.
With the candidate lists now public, the campaign season is expected to intensify rapidly. The AAP's large slate of candidates indicates its strategy to make deep inroads into Punjab's rural political landscape, setting the stage for a keenly watched electoral battle.
