AAP won 14 of 35 municipal seats, with the BJP close behind at 12 seats. The Congress upped its share winning eight seats rising up from previous four seats, and the Akali Dal stayed at its previous tally of one seat. Elections were held on Friday in Chandigarh, the capital of Punjab and Haryana.

“AAP’s victory in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation points at the imminent change in Punjab. People have rejected corrupt politics and have chosen AAP.  Punjab is ready for change,” tweeted Mr Kejriwal. The Delhi Chief Minister has been campaigning aggressively for the Punjab election.

“The Chandigarh election is a trailer, Punjab will be the full movie. The mood in Chandigarh is the mood in Punjab,” added AAP’s Raghav Chadha.

In a huge setback for the BJP, its mayor Ravi Kant Sharma and former mayor Davesh Moudgil were both defeated by AAP candidates. AAP’s election campaign committee head Chander Mukhi Sharma lost.

Chandigarh had 26 seats in the previous civic election. This time, a few villages were shifted from the Gram Panchayat and brought under the urban civic body.

In the last polls, the BJP had bagged 20 seats (77 percent of the seats), and its then ally Akali Dal had a single seat. The BJP-Akali Dal’s rival Congress had won four seats (15%). The BJP and the Akali Dal fell out earlier this year over the farmer protest.

Traditionally, the Chandigarh civic polls held every five years is a straight rivalry between the BJP and Congress. AAP’s entry has changed that. With the high-stakes Punjab election approaching in just weeks, it became a four-way battle between AAP, BJP, Congress, and the Akali Dal-BSP alliance.  It is clear that the farmers’ protest had led to a sizable loss of a chunk of votes for the BJP.