Decoding the People’s Verdict............by Pushpinder Singh Gill

March 13, 2022: The political upheaval caused by the Aam Aadmi Party’s victory in Punjab Assembly Elections 2022 has thrown up a lot of questions about the functioning of traditional political parties. 

The arithmetic of winning elections and the set formulas practiced over the decades seems to no longer yield the desired results. Has the thinking of the electorate changed over the years or have the politicians lost touch with the ground realities? It is not just the sheer scale of victory or the loss of so-called “too big to lose” candidates but the margins of victory which need to be evaluated by the political bigwigs if they want to understand what went wrong in their calculations had been perfected over the years. 

Systems and People reinvent themselves after some years to remain relevant but our political setup has been stuck in one place for a long time.

The committed cadre has been the lifeline of every political dispensation. The cadre-leader relationship went perfect as both sides looked for each other’s interest but in recent years things changed.

With the trend of promoting their own family members for tickets and appointing them in various positions as chairmen on various boards, the cadre was left to just manage the booths and attend rallies.

The recent appointment of sons of MLAs as inspectors and tehsildars seemed to be the last act of betrayal committed by the politicians on the committed cadre. This along with monetary concerns dominating the routine administrative work has left cadre with nothing. Over the years as the family members were considered for everything ranging from jobs to business or government contracts (even for something like the interlocking tiles), the cadre also drifted away to greener pastures.

From the big names to newly inducted leaders, everyone was a firm believer in the power of money and its effects on vote politics. They believed that whatever be the conditions they will manage to sail across with the help of their very deep pockets. 

This election seems to have broken this also even in case of poorest electorate. It is not that people refused to accept money in lieu of their votes, on the contrary candidates of the main two traditional parties reportedly spent anywhere from Rs. 20 to Rs. 35 crores in these elections.

 The people had realized over the years that if it was okay for the politicians to forget them after taking their votes perhaps it was okay for them also to forget the politician after collecting money and not vote for him. It has also come to light that in many cases people went to the gurdwaras and repented for this act of breaking the oath to vote for a particular candidate after accepting money as they were determined to usher the much talked about change.

Along with monetary benefits, the other trick which was time tested to ensure victory was the consolidation of votes on the lines of religion and caste. While I am a firm believer that Punjab has always rejected the voting on caste and religious lines, the politicians left no stone unturned this time to polarize voters. 

From Congress making Chief Minister of a particular community in a bid to attract a sizable vote bank to Sunil Jakhar publicly lamenting the fact that he lost out even after having the support of 42 MLAs as he was a Hindu leader to Jathedar of Akal Takht appealing to vote for strengthening the Akali Dal, no stone was left unturned in the pursuit of power. 

Sadly for the traditional parties, the voter gave a royal snub to all such efforts and it was a sweeping referendum of rejection to these politicians and their politics. Along with religion and caste another important tool in the kitty of our traditional politicians had been the support of many deras functioning in the state. 

The sway of these deras over lakhs of voters was a much hyped about myth which was also busted this time. With the traditional parties wooing every Dera and many declaring open support to candidates or parties could not alter the results which people had already decided .Even ensuring a twenty day furlough to a convicted dera head did not yield the desired results.

The gap between the awareness levels of voters in urban and rural areas have been reducing and digital tools have fasten the process. The people are now asking pointed questions and cannot be taken for guaranteed. The traditional politicians are failing to gauge this nerve and are paying the price for this lapse.

Now why all the usual practices which were tested time and again in previous years did not yield the desired results? More than the usual answer that the voter had become more aware or educated, the voting pattern shows that people were angry at the prevailing system. 

The politics had become a business for the leaders and the greed of making more and more money had made them forget what the public was going through. While earlier an ageing politician handed his political heir the family seat earlier, now the leaders wanted their sons, brothers, wives and relatives to represent a greater number of seats in a bid to consolidate power. This open loot of the people’s resources and their being immune from the swings of public misfortune even in natural calamities like corona also jolted the population out of their slumber.

The people were angry with the current dispensation and wanted to teach them a lesson but they did not vote for whatever alternative was available. The electorate debunked the claims of political pundits and analysts that Sanjukat Samaj Morcha was also fighting for the same space of change and will divide the votes of Aam Aadmi Party. 

Further calculations that since it is a five cornered contest, because of division of votes and low margins of victory the traditional parties will hold ground and hung assembly will also benefit a certain type of politics was proven mis founded and far away from the ground reality. 

The voters had made up their minds firmly about what they meant by change and whom they wanted to be the face of this huge change. The margins of victory of the AAP candidates reflect this anger towards the ruling elite of our society. 

It is also very heartening to listen to the statements being made by the newly elected MLAs in the media. The common inference of these statements is that the people have done their job and now it is our turn to perform and match their expectations. 

It was also good to know that they realize the expectations of people from them have heightened and they will have to perform from day one if the expectations are to be met. The message of the Chief Minister- designate to his MLAs was also clear and precise to desist away from any hooliganism in the form of victory celebrations. The MLAs need to spend time with the people who have elected them and be seen as solving their problems rather than staying the Chandigarh. They are suppose to shun any kind of vendetta and work for all. This connect among the Aam Aadmi Party and the people of Punjab which has given path breaking verdict must remain intact at all cost and the newly elected legislators have to bear that in mind all the times.

The old guard also needs to introspect clearly that the style of functioning has to change if they want to return to the winning ways again. The greed of capturing everything for themselves and their family needs to give way for doing at least some public good. The established formulas of winning the elections by money, muscle, drugs, caste and religion will no longer work as the people are aware about their rights and responsibilities. 

The valiant people of Punjab have shown what a decisive mandate can do and this may also give ideas to electorate in other states. The belief that has emerged with this verdict will go a long way in sustaining this change and fuel further expectations of our people.