AAP to enrol 25 lakh members in Punjab

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has decided to expand its base in Punjab by enrolling 25 lakh members, an official said on Thursday.

An AAP spokesman said the party's "Punjab Jodo" campaign has been launched under which 25 lakh people will be enrolled in the next 15 days.

The party will use social media, phone calls and about 3,000 party stalls to enrol new members, he added.

The AAP is preparing itself for the 2017 assembly elections for 117 seats in Punjab.

It intends to give tough competition to the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance which has been in power in the state since 2007 and the opposition Congress in the next assembly polls.

The AAP, which was completely rejected elsewhere in the country in the 2014 general elections, won four seats in the Lok Sabha from Punjab.

Two of these seats came to the AAP with big margins. AAP candidates won in Sangrur, Patiala, Faridkot and Fatehgarh Sahib Lok Sabha seats.

Delhi Chief Minister and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal had admitted that the Punjab results were "unexpected".

However, after the Lok Sabha results, the Punjab unit of the AAP has been involved in bitter infighting among its top leaders, including the sitting MPs.

Punjab, with a population of nearly 2.8 crore, has over 1.95 crore voters.