Chandigarh: Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), scoring a stellar poll debut in Chandigarh today, took a lead over the BJP and the Congress as votes cast in the city municipal elections were counted. AAP called it a "trailer" of the Punjab election to be held early next year.

So far, AAP has won nine of 35 municipal wards while the BJP has won six and the Congress, five seats. The Akali Dal has taken one seat in the election held on Friday in Chandigarh, the capital of Punjab and Haryana.

"The Chandigarh election is a trailer, Punjab will be the full movie. The mood in Chandigarh is the mood in Punjab. All are voting for AAP. Initial trends prove that people have decided to give a chance to Arvind Kejriwal," said AAP's Raghav Chadha.

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

"Only final results will show which party's vote base has shifted to AAP because BJP's voters never shift their loyalty," said Naresh Arora, BJP's Chandigarh spokesperson, as the party stared at second place.

In the last polls, the BJP had bagged 20 seats and its then ally Akali Dal had a single seat. The BJP-Akali Dal's rival Congress had won four seats. 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.

But this time, with the Punjab election approaching in just weeks, the Chandigarh vote became a four-way contest between AAP, BJP, Congress and the Akali Dal-BSP alliance.