AAP's dream to make inroads into Hindi heartland dashed

Tribune News Service

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, December 3

The Aam Aadmi Party’s ambitions of gaining a political foothold in the Hindi heartland seems to have been cut short after the party has been unable to win a single seat in any of the state Assembly elections, the results for which were declared today.

The party, in spite of an aggressive campaign by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann along with party supremo Arvind Kejriwal, has not only drawn a blank in the elections, but also has not even managed a 1 per cent vote share in any of the three states - Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Vote share

• In Madhya Pradesh, it’s 0.54 per cent where the party fielded 70 candidates
• In Rajasthan, the vote share is 0.38 per cent where AAP fielded 88 candidates
• In Chhattisgarh, it’s 0.93 per cent where AAP fielded 57 candidates

Data available from the Election Commission of India shows that the vote share of AAP in Madhya Pradesh is 0.54 per cent where the party fielded 70 candidates; it is 0.38 per cent in Rajasthan where AAP fielded 88 candidates and is 0.93 per cent in Chhattisgarh where AAP fielded 57 candidates.

This is for the first time that the party has failed to open its account in the elections it has contested. After the party’s stupendous victory in Punjab, where they won 92 seats in 2022, the party’s national ambitions got wings and the party won two seats in Goa and five in Gujarat.

Were hopeful

Disappointed yes, because we were hopeful of getting some seats in Rajasthan. We will analyse the reasons for the defeat and move towards a better performance in 2024 General Election. —Malvinder Singh Kang, Spokesperson, AAP

All through the past two months, the party had launched an aggressive campaign in all three states, with Mann and Kejriwal holding many roadshows and addressing political rallies in both Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. Almost all ministers of Punjab, many MLAs and those aspiring to get the party ticket for the 2024 General Election - were deputed to campaign for the party in these states. MLAs Jagtar Singh Diyalpura nad Rajneesh Dahiya were co-incharges for party campaign in Madhya Pradesh and Amolak Singh and Amritpal Singh Sukhanand were co-incharges for Chhattisgarh. Many party’s leaders, appointed as directors/members and vice-chairmen of various boards and corporations on Friday were given the appointment only as a mark of appreciation for carrying forward the party campaign in these states. The state leadership was hopeful of the party getting some seats in Rajasthan, especially in the areas bordering Punjab and even in Madhya Pradesh.

“While we congratulate the winners in the elections, we are not disheartened with the results. Disappointed yes, because we were hopeful of getting some seats in Rajasthan. We will analyse the reasons for the party defeat and are ready to learn and move forward for a stunning performance in 2024 elections,” said Malvinder Singh Kang, spokesperson, AAP.

NOTA gets more votes than AAP

Even NOTA got a higher percentage of vote share than the vote share of AAP candidates in all three states. As per the data available, 0.98 per cent of voters in MP, 0.96 per cent in Rajasthan and 1.26 per cent in Chhattisgarh opted for NOTA

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#Aam Aadmi Party AAP #Chhattisgarh #Madhya Pradesh #Rajasthan