AAP, CPM fail to open account in Himachal Pradesh Assembly poll

Subhash Rajta

Shimla, December 8

AAP has failed to open its account in Himachal Pradesh Assembly poll. The AAP was looking to establish itself as credible alternative and establish itself as an alternative to the two traditional parties — BJP and the Congress — in the state but it lost deposit on 67 seats.

Besides, the AAP and the CPM, another party with noticeable presence in certain pockets of the state, drew a blank. The CPM’s bet, Rakesh Singha, the lone CPM MLA in the last Vidhan Sabha, finished a dismal fourth in a multi-cornered contest in Theog Assembly constituency. The other 10 candidates that the CPM had fielded failed to save the security deposit.

However, It’s the decimation of the AAP that is surprising. On the back of its good show in Punjab and Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, the Arvind Kejriwal-led party had entered in the state’s political arena high on confidence and optimism. Besides, in the initial phase of AAP campaign they attracted many supporters. But in the end their, campaign didn’t get the expected result. Accepting the crushing defeat, AAP’s state president Surjeet Thakur said the party lost due to two major issues — the demand to restore old pension scheme and simultaneous elections in the Himachal and Gujarat and Delhi civic body elections. “The government employees fought the elections for the Congress. By the time we reached out to them, they had already made up their mind that it was the Congress that could defeat the BJP,” said Thakur.

“Besides, our party does not have enough resources to fight two major Assembly elections and Delhi MCD elections simultaneously. We were stretched and could not campaign as effectively as the party would have liked towards the end. It also hurt our prospects,” he said.

Thakur added that the defeat had not discouraged them and they would continue to raise the issues of the public. “Even in the defeat, we have the satisfaction of forcing other parties to fight elections on people’s issues. We forced the Congress to offer guarantees to the people, and the BJP to offer 125 units of free electricity and discounted travel to women passengers. That’s not a small feat for the party contesting the Assembly elections for the first time in the state,” he said.