The Aam Aadmi Party failed to open its account in Delhi for the third consecutive Lok Sabha elections despite an emotive campaign over the shock arrest of Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal on charges of corruption.
There are 10 Assembly segments in each of the seven Lok Sabha constituencies of Delhi. A look at the performance of three MLAs — Sahiram Pehelwan, Somanth Bharti and Kuldeep Kumar — the AAP fielded in Lok Sabha elections shows two of them failed to get enough votes from their own Assembly constituencies. Barring the New Delhi Assembly seat represented by Kejriwal, the Assembly constituencies represented by AAP’s former and jailed ministers also didn’t back the party in the Lok Sabha elections.
AAP ministers who were able to ensure a good showing for the party in their Assembly constituencies are Gopal Rai from Babarpur and Imran Hussain from Ballimaran. Star performers like MLA Sanjeev Jha could not stem the staggering loss of support for Congress’s North East candidate Kanhaiya Kumar.
Somnath Bharti, AAP MLA from the Malviya Nagar constituency, was the party’s great hope in the Lok Sabha elections from the New Delhi seat. The three-time MLA from Malviya Nagar polled nearly 4,000 votes fewer in his own Assembly constituency than BJP’s Bansuri Swaraj. In the New Delhi Assembly segment, which Kejriwal represents, the AAP was ahead of the BJP by 2,262 votes.
The 2014 and 2019 election results showed that while Delhi rejects the AAP in the Lok Sabha elections, it rewards the party handsomely in the Vidhan Sabha polls. AAP failed to open its account in Delhi in 2014 and 2019 as far as Lok Sabha elections were concerned, but went on to win 67 and 62 of the 70 seats in Delhi elections. With Delhi elections to take place next year, it’s time for the AAP to saddle up.
With inputs from News18