What did AAP gain after 21 days of campaigning by its chief, who was out on interim bail? It had an alliance with Congress in Delhi and they drew a blank on all 7 seats. The Punjab story is even more dire. It has won only 3 out of 13 seats in the state where it is the ruling party. And it has failed to win any seat in Gujarat, Assam and Haryana.
This puts a question mark on AAP’s relevance as a player of significance in the INDIA alliance. The party’s bargaining power in INDIA alliance will be considerably weakened with more powerful regional satraps calling the shots.
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It can, however, take solace from the fact that with NDA’s tally reduced, and BJP doing introspection, its mascot can expect some respite from central agencies. However, if Kejriwal insists on continuing as CM while in jail, he has to contend with the possibility of Central rule being imposed and assembly polls being called for earlier than Feb next year when the AAP govt completes five years.
The slogan of “jail ka jawab vote se” didn’t yield a mandate for the party. The poll results also show that Kejriwal’s ‘Delhi model of development’ and its projection in Punjab, where it had swept the assembly polls in 2022, did not impress the electorate enough to choose AAP over BJP and Congress.
AAP had joined politics promising an “alternative” to traditional parties like BJP and Congress, calling them corrupt. When it struck an alliance with Congress, it did not sit well with voters who saw it as an opportunistic move. The argument that AAP had joined INDIA in order to defeat a dictatorial dispensation at the Centre seems to have been lost on the electorate.
The party, which had secured an impressive victory in Punjab assembly polls in 2022, getting catapulted into the limelight as a party that could be a national player of significance, failed to perform in the state winning just 3 seats – Sangrur, Anandpur Sahib and Hoshiarpur. Congress got 7 out of 13. Significantly, both AAP and Congress had agreed not to fight in an alliance in the face of resistance from state units who felt going separately would work better. That clearly worked for Congress, leaving AAP high and dry.
As part of the INDIA alliance, AAP and Congress were also in the poll fray jointly in Gujarat. AAP contested in two constituencies – Bharuch and Bhavnagar — with the former being the home turf of later Congress stalwart Ahmed Patel. Congress has won one out of the 24 seats it contested. BJP bagged 25 out of 26. AAP drew a blank.
Besides, AAP also lost Kurukshetra to BJP while Congress, which fought on 9 seats in Haryana, won 5. Kejriwal’s party was also defeated in two constituencies in Assam.
With Kejriwal seen as the face of AAP in Delhi and beyond, with no other person to take over reins of the party and govt in sight yet, the way forward for his party will be determined by how long he remains in jail and how far he is able to run the show from inside while keeping his flock together.
