The Aam Aadmi Party, which stunned everyone by its impressive show in the Delhi Assembly elections in December 2013, has now been completely routed from the national capital. The Narendra Modi wave has swept Delhi with the Bharatiya Janata Party leading in all seven seats. However, what’s interesting is that it is now the second largest party in all constituencies, throwing the Congress out of the contest completely.
The AAP’s big names Ashutosh, Rakhi Birla and Raj Mohan Gandhi are trailing and so is its National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal in Varanasi. The party also was expecting a good performance by its Chandigarh candidate and actress Gul Panag, who failed to make a mark in the constituency which has been won by her BJP counterpart Kirron Kher.
In fact, one the AAP’s key candidate, Kumar Vishwas, who was confident of winning Amethi is seeing a humiliating defeat in the constituency. It’s a close fight there between Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi vs BJP’s Smriti Irani.
The AAP is facing rout even in Delhi’s neighbourhood of Gurgaon, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ghaziabad and Faridabad. Its big name and ideologue Prof. Yogendra Yadav is trailing in Gurgaon. In Karnataka, the AAP struggled to get even a few thousand votes. It’s candidate V Balakrishnan of the Infosys is trailing in Bangalore Central by a huge margin.
However, the party has managed to spring a surprise in Punjab where it has won in one constituency, is leading in three constituencies and is a close second in one constituency. The AAP’s star candidate and Punjab comedian Bhagwant Mann registered a massive win from the Sangrur constituency in Punjab. He has defeated Shiromani Akali Dal’s Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa in Sangrur.
AAP’s Faridkot candidate Prof. Sadhu Singh is also on its way to winning from the seat, leading by a margin of over 80,000 votes. Its Fatehgarh Sahib candidate Harinder Singh Khalsa is also leading against the Congress’s Sadhu Singh by over 30,000 votes.
AAP Patiala candidate Dr Dharam Vira Gandhi too is leading while HS Phoolka was a close second in Ludhiana.
However, that’s the only success story that the AAP can take forward from the 2014 Lok Sabha elections even as the party had over 400 candidates contesting across India. It’s 49-day government in Delhi and Arvind Kejriwal’s resignation as the Delhi CM certainly seems to have hit the AAP.
The AAP had made headlines with its claims that it has brought about an anti-corruption mood in the country. The BJP and the Congress all along raised questions saying the AAP was being overestimated.
This election has certainly been swept away by the bigger perception of the Modi wave. The AAP yet is not a game changer.
